Cosmetology Schools in Colorado Springs, CO, Ranked (2026)

The 4 Cosmetology Schools in and Near Colorado Springs, Ranked on Completion

4 cosmetology programs report to the US Department of Education from inside Colorado Springs or within 30 miles of downtown. Every one of them had at least 40 students and a published completion figure, and they are ordered on the share of students who finish within half again the program's normal length.

Where a school's board record was matched, the card carries it. A school that appears here without one is not unlicensed; it means the board's file and the federal file did not agree on its name, and the Colorado page links the board's own lookup.

1. #1

   Paul Mitchell the School-Colorado Springs

   Colorado Springs, CO · Licensed school

   85%

   Share of students who finish

   • $17,100 program cost

   What the record shows

   Paul Mitchell the School-Colorado Springs is licensed by the Division of Private Occupational Schools and trains in Colorado Springs. With 8 licensed schools in Colorado Springs, this one is competing for students rather than the only option. The school graduates 85 percent, on a fall headcount of 204. The published cost is $17,100 for the full program. The median graduate left with $9,834 in federal loans, across 121 borrowers. On the standard ten-year plan that is about $104 a month. $17,100 is within 4 percent of the $17,680 median, and the completion is not ordinary: 85 percent against 69. That is the better half of the trade. 138 students completed a credential here in the reporting year. Check its license with the Division of Private Occupational Schools before enrolling, because that record and not this card is what makes your clock hours count.

   Where it leads

   Pay for cosmetologists around Colorado Springs runs from $30,910 at the tenth percentile to $97,330 at the ninetieth, with a median of $36,680. Most of that range is a following, which is why two graduates of the same program can end up far apart. Concentration around Colorado Springs runs modestly above the national rate, about 1.4 times, or 870 people in the occupation.

   Sources: US Department of Education, College Scorecard; Division of Private Occupational Schools, Colorado Department of Higher Education (Private Occupational School Board), read 2026-08-31.

2. #2

   International Salon and Spa Academy

   Colorado Springs, CO · Licensed school

   73%

   Share of students who finish

   • $19,015 program cost

   What the record shows

   International Salon and Spa Academy trains in Colorado Springs, licensed by the Division of Private Occupational Schools. Colorado Springs has 8 licensed schools, so there is a real choice locally. 73 percent of its students finish, out of 248 enrolled in the fall count. Tuition is reported at $19,015 for the full program. Borrowing here runs to a median of $6,333 in federal loans, measured over 256 graduates. On the standard ten-year plan that is about $67 a month. Completion and price both sit close to the page median, 73 percent against 69 and $19,015 against $17,680, so the number that separates it is debt: 33 percent of the price arrives as federal loans, less than at the typical school here. It awarded 206 beauty credentials in the reporting year. That is roughly 8 percent of everything awarded by federally reporting beauty programs in the state, so it is one of the larger training operations here. Confirm the school's current license with the Division of Private Occupational Schools first: that entry is what qualifies your hours, whatever the federal figures say.

   Where it leads

   Pay for cosmetologists around Colorado Springs runs from $30,910 at the tenth percentile to $97,330 at the ninetieth, with a median of $36,680. That is a wide spread, and it is mostly the difference between building a client book and not. Concentration around Colorado Springs runs modestly above the national rate, about 1.4 times, or 870 people in the occupation.

   Sources: US Department of Education, College Scorecard; Division of Private Occupational Schools, Colorado Department of Higher Education (Private Occupational School Board), read 2026-08-31.

3. #3

   The Salon Professional Academy-Colorado Springs

   Colorado Springs, CO · Licensed school

   66%

   Share of students who finish

   • $8,200 program cost

   What the record shows

   The Salon Professional Academy-Colorado Springs operates in Colorado Springs under license from the Division of Private Occupational Schools. With 8 licensed schools in Colorado Springs, this one is competing for students rather than the only option. Of the 121 students in its fall count, 66 percent complete the course they started. Tuition is reported at $8,200 for the full program. Graduates who borrowed took on $6,333 in federal loans at the median, 84 of them. On the standard ten-year plan that is about $67 a month. It charges 54 percent less than the $17,680 median and finishes about as many of its students as the typical school here, so the saving is real rather than a discount for worse odds. 67 students completed a credential here in the reporting year. Ask the Division of Private Occupational Schools directly whether the license is in good standing, because a lapse while you are enrolled costs you the hours rather than the school.

   Where it leads

   Pay for cosmetologists around Colorado Springs runs from $30,910 at the tenth percentile to $97,330 at the ninetieth, with a median of $36,680. A gap that size tracks clientele rather than seniority. The work is somewhat more concentrated around Colorado Springs than nationally, at roughly 1.4 times the usual rate.

   Sources: US Department of Education, College Scorecard; Division of Private Occupational Schools, Colorado Department of Higher Education (Private Occupational School Board), read 2026-08-31.

4. #4

   TIGI Hairdressing Academy Legacy

   Colorado Springs, CO · Licensed school

   60%

   Share of students who finish

   • $18,260 program cost

   What the record shows

   TIGI Hairdressing Academy Legacy is licensed by the Division of Private Occupational Schools and trains in Colorado Springs. With 8 licensed schools in Colorado Springs, this one is competing for students rather than the only option. The school graduates 60 percent, on a fall headcount of 72. Tuition is reported at $18,260 for the full program. The median graduate left with $12,500 in federal loans, across 182 borrowers. On the standard ten-year plan that is about $133 a month. 9 points fewer of its students finish than the 69 percent median, priced within 4 percent of the $17,680 median, so you would be paying the going rate for worse odds of getting through. Ask the school what happens to the ones who leave. It awarded 137 credentials over the year against a fall headcount of 72, which is what a clock-hour course that turns over more than one cohort a year looks like. Ask the Division of Private Occupational Schools directly whether the license is in good standing, because a lapse while you are enrolled costs you the hours rather than the school.

   Where it leads

   Around Colorado Springs, the median cosmetologist earns $36,680, the bottom tenth $30,910 and the top tenth $97,330. The distance between $30,910 and $97,330 is the whole argument for staying past the first couple of years. Concentration around Colorado Springs runs modestly above the national rate, about 1.4 times, or 870 people in the occupation.

   Sources: US Department of Education, College Scorecard; Division of Private Occupational Schools, Colorado Department of Higher Education (Private Occupational School Board), read 2026-08-31.

Other Licensed Cosmetology Schools in Colorado Springs

Division of Private Occupational Schools, Colorado Department of Higher Education (Private Occupational School Board) lists 8 currently licensed schools in Colorado Springs. These 4 appear above, either because the school takes no federal aid and so reports no completion figure, or because its cohort was too small to rank. Being on this list means the board licenses the school, which is the thing that makes your hours count.

Colorado's Two Regulators and the 1,500-Hour Rule

Two different agencies stand between you and a Colorado license. A Colorado Springs school gets its approval from the Division of Private Occupational Schools at the Department of Higher Education, under the Private Occupational School Board. You get your own license from a separate body, the Office of Barber and Cosmetology Licensure, inside the Department of Regulatory Agencies.

So the beauty regulator here approves no schools at all. An approved school has to describe itself as regulated by the Private Occupational School Board, and that wording on a Colorado Springs school's paperwork is the thing to look for. All four ranked schools appear on the state roster, and so do four more in the city.

The requirement is 1,500 contact hours, or fifty credit hours, which Colorado accepts as a real alternative to seat time. Below that sits a 1,200-hour hairstylist license with a narrower scope, and beside it a 1,500-hour barber license, a 600-hour esthetician license and a 600-hour nail technician license. Sources quoting 1,800 hours for Colorado are out of date.

Figures in this section: Division of Private Occupational Schools, Colorado Department of Higher Education (Private Occupational School Board).

Four Ranked Schools, and What Separates Them

Paul Mitchell the School-Colorado Springs is first at 85 percent completion on 204 enrolled, in the city itself, at $17,100. International Salon and Spa Academy is second at 73 percent on 248 enrolled, six miles out, and at $19,015 it is the most expensive of the four.

The Salon Professional Academy-Colorado Springs is the price story. It charges $8,200 for the program, less than half what International Salon and Spa Academy charges, and it finished 66 percent of 121 enrolled. Its median debt of $6,333 matches the second-place school's exactly. TIGI Hairdressing Academy Legacy is fourth at 60 percent on 72 enrolled, at $18,260.

Now the part that should change how you read the tuition column. Three of these four report five-year earnings, and they land within $635 of each other: $23,941, $24,405 and $24,576. Their tuition differs by $1,915. Three schools, three prices, and essentially one result five years later.

Median debt separates them more than earnings do. TIGI graduates carry $12,500, roughly twice the $6,333 that International Salon and Spa Academy and The Salon Professional Academy graduates carry, and Paul Mitchell sits at $9,834. The methodology covers how completion, cost and debt are weighed against each other.

Figures in this section: BLS OEWS, May 2025; College Scorecard, June 2026.

What Colorado Springs Pays Stylists, Barbers and Nail Techs

The Colorado Springs metro reports 870 hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists at a $36,680 median in the BLS May 2025 release. That is $1,010 below the $37,690 Colorado median, so the state pays a little better at the middle. Stylists are more concentrated here than nationally, at 1.4 times the national rate.

The top end tells a different story. The 90th percentile in this metro is $97,330 against a 10th percentile of $30,910. A Colorado Springs stylist at the top of that range earns close to three times the median, which is what building a full book of clients over years looks like, not what a new graduate earns.

Barbering is the striking number here, and the smallest sample. The metro reports 70 barbers at a $71,970 median, more than double the barber concentration you would expect nationally. On 70 people a median moves easily, and the 90th percentile is only $73,220, so treat it as a signal rather than a promise. Barber pay data has the national picture.

Nail work is well represented too, at 480 manicurists and pedicurists in the metro, about 1.5 times the national concentration, reporting a $36,670 median. That is within $10 of the stylist median. Every figure here counts wage and salary workers, which leaves booth renters out, and in this trade that is a large share of the people working.

Figures in this section: BLS OEWS, May 2025; College Scorecard, June 2026.

What Cosmetology Careers Pay in Colorado Springs

Median annual pay in the Colorado Springs, CO metro area, from the May 2025 BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release. A cosmetologist here earns a median of $36,680 against $37,690 across Colorado, with 870 employed in the metro. Booth renters and salon owners are self-employed and outside the survey, so these figures describe stylists on a payroll.

Each occupation has its own salary page with the range and every state, and a career page on the work and the license it needs.

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Common Questions About Cosmetology School in Colorado Springs

Answers draw on Division of Private Occupational Schools, Colorado Department of Higher Education (Private Occupational School Board), the College Scorecard and the May 2025 BLS wage release.