All 50 States and DC
Cosmetology Program Rankings
Where you train decides more than which school you pick. The same license takes 1,000 hours in one state and 2,000 in another, and the median wage runs from $26,030 to $59,510 depending on the line on the map.
Edited by Zoe MacDougall, Founder & Editor
Published Last updated
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Sources: BLS OEWS, May 2025, and each state board's own license records.
Every state has a page here with its regulator, its hour requirement and its local pay. 47 of them order their schools on a figure someone publishes per school. We also hold board license records for 34 states, 3,063 currently licensed schools in total, which is the record that decides whether your clock hours will count.
Pay
Which States Pay Cosmetologists the Most?
Washington pays cosmetologists the most at a $59,510 median , and Louisiana the least at $26,030. The gap between them is larger than the median wage of the bottom state.
- Washington $59,510 $59,510
- Oregon $57,580 $57,580
- District of Columbia $54,570 $54,570
- South Dakota $49,800 $49,800
- Vermont $48,650 $48,650
- Connecticut $44,620 $44,620
- Maine $44,000 $44,000
- Minnesota $39,170 $39,170
- California $38,660 $38,660
- North Carolina $38,410 $38,410
- Montana $38,000 $38,000
- New Mexico $37,750 $37,750
Employment
Where Is Cosmetology Most Concentrated as an Occupation?
Cosmetology is most concentrated in New Jersey, which employs the trade at 1.84 times the national rate . Concentration and pay are different things: the densest markets are not the best paid, and a thick market means both more employers and more competition for chairs.
- New Jersey 1.84x 1.84x
- Pennsylvania 1.62x 1.62x
- Rhode Island 1.49x 1.49x
- New Hampshire 1.45x 1.45x
- Idaho 1.34x 1.34x
- Massachusetts 1.34x 1.34x
- Delaware 1.33x 1.33x
- Virginia 1.26x 1.26x
- Arizona 1.23x 1.23x
- Connecticut 1.23x 1.23x
- Colorado 1.21x 1.21x
- Florida 1.21x 1.21x
Methodology
What Can Each State's Schools Actually Be Ranked On?
Each state's schools can be ranked only on what someone actually publishes about them. One board publishes an outcome of its own, and the federal government publishes another that covers almost everywhere: whether students finish. There is no single national league table, deliberately: every comparison on this site is between schools inside one state.
Ranked on Exam Pass Rates
StrongestThe board publishes how each school's candidates did in the licensing exam . One state does this, and passing the exam is the thing a cosmetology school exists to get you to, so where it exists it outranks everything else.
Ranked on Who Finishes
46 statesNo board outside California publishes an outcome, but the federal government does. These states are ranked on the share of students who finish what they started . In a clock-hour trade that is the outcome that matters most, because the license needs the full hour count and a student who leaves early has paid for hours that will never qualify them. It is reported for the institution rather than the course, which is exact at a beauty school and broader at a community college, and each card says which it is describing.
Alabama , Arizona , Arkansas , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , Mississippi , Missouri , Montana , Nebraska , Nevada , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , New York , North Carolina , North Dakota , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Virginia , Washington , West Virginia , Wisconsin
Listed, Not Ranked
Too few schools here carry an earnings figure that survives federal suppression to order them, and the board publishes no outcome of its own. Ordering them would be ordering them by nothing, so these are directories rather than rankings.
Board Records Searched One at a Time
These 17 boards answer school queries individually rather than publishing a file, so this site holds no license roster for them. Most are still ranked, on the federal earnings data above, and every one of their pages carries the regulator, the hour requirement and the local pay, and links the board's own lookup rather than reprinting a commercial directory. Check any school's license there before you enroll, because that is the record the ranking cannot see.
Alaska , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Idaho , Indiana , Maine , Michigan , Montana , Nebraska , New Mexico , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , South Carolina , Utah , Washington , Wisconsin
No School List From Any Source
The board publishes no file, and the federal release names no cosmetology program in the state at all, so there is no source that would let this site name a school there. The page still carries the regulator, the hour requirement and the local pay, and links the board's own lookup. Naming this gap is more useful than filling it from a commercial directory, which is where stale listings come from.
By Category
Cosmetology School Rankings by What Matters to You
Seven lists that cross state lines on one federal figure each, from what every school reports to the College Scorecard and IPEDS. Each page says what it is ordered on and what that leaves out.
- Military-Friendly Cosmetology Schools Beauty schools that take the Yellow Ribbon Program, credit military training or staff a veteran office, from what each school reports to the Department of Education.
- Most Affordable Cosmetology Schools The cheapest beauty schools in the country on the full program price each one reports to the Department of Education, with completion alongside so cheap is never mistaken for good.
- Community College Cosmetology Programs Public colleges and technical colleges that teach cosmetology, ranked on the share of students who finish. The cheapest route into the trade in most states.
- Cosmetology Schools for Adults and Career Changers Beauty schools where at least half the students are 25 or older, so a career changer is the room rather than the exception. Ordered on that share, from federal enrollment data.
- Cosmetology Programs at HBCUs Every historically Black college that teaches cosmetology and reports to the Department of Education, with completion, cost and graduate figures for each.
- Faith-Based Cosmetology Schools The beauty schools that declare a religious identity, either to the federal government or in their licensed name, and how to check any school’s license before you enrol.
- Cosmetology Associate Degree Programs Nearly every cosmetology program awards a certificate or diploma. These are the colleges that award an associate degree instead, and what the difference is worth.
By City
Cosmetology Schools in the 50 Largest Cities
Each city page ranks the schools inside the city and within 30 miles on completion, lists the board's licensed schools, and carries the metro wage series. All fifty, by state.
- New York, NY
- Los Angeles, CA
- Chicago, IL
- Houston, TX
- Phoenix, AZ
- Philadelphia, PA
- San Antonio, TX
- San Diego, CA
- Dallas, TX
- Jacksonville, FL
- Fort Worth, TX
- San Jose, CA
- Austin, TX
- Charlotte, NC
- Columbus, OH
- Indianapolis, IN
- San Francisco, CA
- Seattle, WA
- Denver, CO
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Nashville, TN
- Washington, DC
- El Paso, TX
- Las Vegas, NV
- Boston, MA
- Detroit, MI
- Portland, OR
- Louisville, KY
- Memphis, TN
- Baltimore, MD
- Milwaukee, WI
- Albuquerque, NM
- Tucson, AZ
- Fresno, CA
- Sacramento, CA
- Mesa, AZ
- Atlanta, GA
- Kansas City, MO
- Colorado Springs, CO
- Omaha, NE
- Raleigh, NC
- Miami, FL
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Long Beach, CA
- Oakland, CA
- Minneapolis, MN
- Tampa, FL
- Tulsa, OK
- Arlington, TX
- New Orleans, LA
All 50 States and DC
Every State: Hours, Pay and Who Regulates the Schools
Ranked Cosmetology Schools in Each State
| State | Hours | Median Pay | Concentration | Schools Listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 1,500 | $29,150 | 0.79x | 52 |
| Alaska | 1,650 | $32,150 | 0.52x | |
| Arizona | 1,500 | $36,810 | 1.23x | 123 |
| Arkansas | 1,500 | $28,830 | 0.55x | 56 |
| California | 1,000 | $38,660 | 0.76x | 281 |
| Colorado | 1,500 | $37,690 | 1.21x | 58 |
| Connecticut | 1,500 | $44,620 | 1.23x | 91 |
| Delaware | $34,350 | 1.33x | 14 | |
| District of Columbia | 1,250 | $54,570 | 0.63x | 4 |
| Florida | 1,200 | $29,530 | 1.21x | |
| Georgia | 1,500 | $34,560 | 0.82x | |
| Hawaii | 1,800 | $35,040 | 0.76x | |
| Idaho | 1,600 | $35,480 | 1.34x | |
| Illinois | 1,500 | $34,040 | 1.10x | 225 |
| Indiana | 1,500 | $32,830 | 0.94x | |
| Iowa | 1,550 | $35,700 | 0.96x | 22 |
| Kansas | 1,500 | $29,710 | 0.77x | 28 |
| Kentucky | 1,500 | $29,840 | 0.60x | 53 |
| Louisiana | 1,500 | $26,030 | 0.71x | 46 |
| Maine | 1,500 | $44,000 | 0.77x | |
| Maryland | 1,500 | $36,420 | 1.08x | 37 |
| Massachusetts | 1,000 | $37,290 | 1.34x | 115 |
| Michigan | 1,500 | $34,820 | 1.04x | |
| Minnesota | 1,550 | $39,170 | 0.92x | 42 |
| Mississippi | 1,500 | $27,560 | 0.45x | 66 |
| Missouri | 1,500 | $30,750 | 0.94x | 84 |
| Montana | 1,500 | $38,000 | 0.68x | |
| Nebraska | 1,800 | $34,320 | 0.94x | |
| Nevada | 1,600 | $33,840 | 0.64x | 23 |
| New Hampshire | 1,200 | $34,650 | 1.45x | 11 |
| New Jersey | 1,200 | $36,150 | 1.84x | 85 |
| New Mexico | 1,600 | $37,750 | 0.72x | |
| New York | 1,000 | $35,760 | 1.09x | 80 |
| North Carolina | 1,500 | $38,410 | 0.87x | 144 |
| North Dakota | 1,500 | $34,850 | 1.03x | 4 |
| Ohio | 1,500 | $36,260 | 1.18x | 191 |
| Oklahoma | 1,500 | $29,650 | 0.57x | 78 |
| Oregon | $57,580 | 0.48x | 37 | |
| Pennsylvania | 1,250 | $36,790 | 1.62x | |
| Rhode Island | 1,000 | $31,200 | 1.49x | |
| South Carolina | 1,500 | $33,700 | 0.79x | |
| South Dakota | 1,500 | $49,800 | 0.77x | 5 |
| Tennessee | 1,500 | $31,310 | 0.94x | 101 |
| Texas | 1,000 | $30,680 | 0.81x | 714 |
| Utah | 1,250 | $35,140 | 0.82x | |
| Vermont | 1,000 | $48,650 | 0.73x | 9 |
| Virginia | 1,000 | 1.26x | 136 | |
| Washington | 1,600 | $59,510 | 0.99x | |
| West Virginia | 2,000 | $34,480 | 0.74x | 38 |
| Wisconsin | 1,550 | $36,230 | 1.08x | |
| Wyoming | 1,600 | $29,170 | 0.65x | 10 |
Pay and concentration come from the May 2025 BLS state estimates , and hours from each state's own rule. A blank in the schools column means that state's board answers queries one at a time. Blank hours means the state does not set a single cosmetologist figure, which is true of Alaska, where the credential is split into hairdresser and esthetician.
Sources for the Cosmetology Program Rankings
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 , state estimates: median pay, employment and location quotients for all 50 states and DC
- Each state's own board, department or commission for the hour requirement and the school records, named with its URL and read date on that state's page
- 4,034 school license records collected across 34 states, of which 3,063 are current. See what the lapsed records show .
Methodology
See How Every Cosmetology Ranking Is Built
What each state's schools are ordered on, where every figure comes from, and what the rankings cannot see.