Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025.
What Does a Makeup Artist Do?
The BLS occupation called makeup artist is a production job, not a salon job. It covers applying makeup for film, television, theater and performance, and nearly half of the people counted in it work in motion picture and video industries. Makeup done at a salon counter or at a wedding is usually done by a cosmetologist or by someone self-employed, and neither appears here.
The federal Standard Occupational Classification files this work as Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance, 39-5091, and defines it as: Apply makeup to performers to reflect period, setting, and situation of their role.
What License Does a Makeup Artist Need in 2026?
A makeup artist faces more varied state licensing than any other role in this field. Some states regulate it under the cosmetology or esthetics license, some have a limited makeup license, and some do not regulate it at all. Production work is generally reached through the industry rather than through a board, and in union markets through the union.
The exams themselves are mostly not written by the boards. Most states administer the written and practical examinations produced by the National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology, which is why the test is recognizable across state lines even though the hour rules are not.
This site holds hour requirements for the cosmetology license, not for the makeup artist license, and the two are set separately. Check your own board before enrolling: the state pages link to each one.
Where Do Makeup Artists Work?
Most makeup artists work in motion picture and video industries: 1,140 of the 2,340 BLS counts, or 48.7% of the occupation. The rest are spread thinly, and the spread is the interesting part, because it is where the job stops looking like one job.
- Motion Picture and Video Industries 1,140 1,140
- Amusement Parks and Arcades 140 140
- Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 110 110
- Employment Services 80 80
- Performing Arts Companies 60 60
- Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations 50 50
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Industries employing fewer than 50 are not published separately.
Which States Employ the Most Makeup Artists in 2026?
The states employing the most makeup artists in 2026 are California with 830, Florida with 250, and Georgia with 200. Headcount mostly tracks population, so the column worth reading is the last one: location quotient is how concentrated the work is locally against the national rate, and it is what tells you where the trade is dense rather than merely large.
| State | Employed | Median Pay | Concentration |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 830 | $140,870 | 3.03x |
| Florida | 250 | $82,400 | 1.68x |
| Georgia | 200 | $143,230 | 2.67x |
| New York | 190 | $97,150 | 1.32x |
| District of Columbia | 60 | $95,730 | 5.90x |
BLS has published employment for this occupation in 4 states and the District of Columbia. A blank is a figure BLS withheld because the sample was too small, which is not the same as a zero.
How Do Makeup Artists Get Booked?
Production makeup has clients, but not in the salon sense: the client is the production, and the person in the chair is a performer the production has cast. A makeup artist is booked per project rather than rebooked by individual clients, and the next booking comes from credits and from who has worked with them before. That is why this role does not build the recurring book of clients the other roles on this site run on, and why the income is project-shaped rather than weekly.
That project shape is visible in the wage data: the OEWS figures for 39-5091 run from $23,360 at the bottom tenth to $167,470 at the top, a spread that reflects how much someone works in a year as much as what they are paid to work.
How Much Do Makeup Artists Make in 2026?
Makeup artists make $97,150 a year in median pay in 2026, with the bottom tenth at $23,360 and the top tenth at $167,470, on May 2025 OEWS figures. The mean is higher than the median, at $102,240, which is what a long tail of high earners does to an average.
Makeup artist wage figures are unlike anything else on this site, and the reason is who is in the sample rather than what the work pays. It is a small, unionized, project-based population concentrated in a few production markets, so the distribution runs from below the median cosmetologist wage at the bottom to a top decile several times higher.
Full pay breakdown by state and percentile
Common Questions About Makeup Artist Careers
Is Makeup Artistry a Good Career in 2026?
How Many Makeup Artists Are There in the United States in 2026?
Do Makeup Artists Need a License in 2026?
Every figure in the answers above is from the May 2025 OEWS release for 39-5091, and covers makeup artists on a payroll only.
Where Do the Figures in This Makeup Artist Career Guide Come From?
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. National and state employment, wage percentiles, industry mix and location quotients for 39-5091.
- BLS Standard Occupational Classification. The occupation definition quoted above, and the boundary between this occupation and its neighbors.