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Schools by city

Cosmetology Schools in the 50 Largest US Cities (2026)

Published September 8, 2026

Edited by Zoe MacDougall, BS in Psychology

Most people pick a beauty school they can drive to. These pages take the fifty largest US cities and put the schools inside each one, and within 30 miles of downtown, on one page: ranked on the share of students who finish, with the state board's licensed roster for the city and what the trade pays in that metro.

Across the fifty, 536 programs rank on federal completion data and 629 schools hold a current state license inside the city limits. The two lists overlap less than you would expect, because most beauty schools take no federal aid and so report no figures, which is a fact about paperwork and not about teaching. Every city page explains the gap for that city.

Every City, by State

Ranked counts are programs with a completion figure in the College Scorecard; licensed counts are the state board's current school licenses inside the city.

How the City Rankings Work

A city page draws every cosmetology program in the College Scorecard with a campus inside the city, adds those within 30 straight-line miles of the city centre, and orders the ones with at least 40 students on the share who finish. That is the same figure and the same threshold the state pages use, so a school never sits in a different place on its city page and its state page. Completion is the C150 figure each institution reports to the College Scorecard, and the methodology explains why completion.

The board roster is separate. Where a state publishes its school license file, every currently licensed school inside the city is listed, matched to a federal record where the two agree on a name. Cities that share a metro (Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington; Phoenix and Mesa; Los Angeles and Long Beach; San Francisco and Oakland) share the BLS wage series and much of the 30-mile list, and each page says so.

Common Questions About Cosmetology Schools by City

Answers draw on the College Scorecard and the May 2025 BLS wage release.

Which US city has the most cosmetology schools?

Among the fifty largest cities, Los Angeles, CA has the most ranked cosmetology programs on this site, with 36 schools inside the city or within 30 miles that report a completion figure to the Department of Education. Counts depend on how a state licenses schools, so a city with a long board roster can still have a short ranked list.

How are cosmetology schools ranked within a city?

On the share of students who finish within half again the program's normal length, as each school reports it to the College Scorecard, over schools with at least 40 students inside the city or within 30 miles of downtown. It is the same basis the state pages use, so a school never ranks differently on its city page and its state page.

Which city pays cosmetologists the most?

Of these fifty metros, Seattle has the highest median for hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists at $59,810 a year in the May 2025 BLS release, and New Orleans the lowest at $26,470. Each city page carries the metro's figures for six occupations against the state.

Does a city page list every beauty school in the city?

A city page lists every cosmetology program that reports to the Department of Education from inside the city or within 30 miles, and every school the state board currently licenses inside the city where the board publishes a roster this site can read. 38 of the fifty cities have that board roster; in the rest the page rests on the federal data and links the board's own lookup.