Cosmetology Schools in El Paso, TX, Ranked (2026)

The 3 Cosmetology Schools in and Near El Paso, Ranked on Completion

3 cosmetology programs report to the US Department of Education from inside El Paso 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 Texas page links the board's own lookup.

1. #1

   Tri-State Cosmetology Institute

   El Paso, TX · Cosmetology Private School

   88%

   Share of students who finish

   • Cosmetology
   • Renews 2027-01
   • $15,000 program cost

   What the record shows

   Tri-State Cosmetology Institute operates in El Paso under license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Its license covers cosmetology. With 21 licensed schools in El Paso, this one is competing for students rather than the only option. The school graduates 88 percent, on a fall headcount of 126. Tuition is reported at $15,000 for the full program. Graduates who borrowed took on $5,440 in federal loans at the median, 172 of them. On the standard ten-year plan that is about $58 a month. With only 3 schools on this page there is no median worth quoting; 88 percent finishing and a $15,000 price are the two figures to carry to the other 2. It awarded 125 beauty credentials in the reporting year. From 126 enrolled, that is one of the higher-throughput floors on this page. The board files it under license 700935; that record, not this one, is what makes your hours count.

   Where it leads

   Around El Paso, the median cosmetologist earns $26,970, the bottom tenth $22,330 and the top tenth $49,350. The metro median runs about 12 percent below the Texas figure. The ninetieth percentile at $49,350 is 1.8 times the median, so the upside is real but bounded, and the floor sits 17 percent under the median, so the first year is lean but not the cliff it is in some states. El Paso employs the trade at close to the national rate, around 510 people.

   Sources: US Department of Education, College Scorecard; Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, read 2026-08-28.

2. #2

   Milan Institute of Cosmetology-El Paso

   El Paso, TX · Cosmetology Private School

   54%

   Share of students who finish

   • Cosmetology
   • Renews 2026-11
   • $12,859 program cost

   What the record shows

   Milan Institute of Cosmetology-El Paso operates in El Paso under license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Its license covers cosmetology. With 21 licensed schools in El Paso, this one is competing for students rather than the only option. The school graduates 54 percent, on a fall headcount of 448. Tuition is reported at $12,859 for the full program. The federal file reports borrowing for Milan Institute of Cosmetology campuses together rather than for this one: a median of $6,333 in federal loans across 613 borrowers. On the standard ten-year plan that is about $67 a month. With only 3 schools on this page there is no median worth quoting; 54 percent finishing and a $12,859 price are the two figures to carry to the other 2. It awarded 226 beauty credentials in the reporting year. Its board record is license 705130, and that entry is the one that counts your hours.

   Where it leads

   For cosmetologists around El Paso, the range runs $22,330 to $49,350 between the tenth and ninetieth percentiles, with a median of $26,970. Against the state as a whole, the metro sits roughly 12 percent under on median pay. The upside is capped near 1.8 times the median and the floor is 17 percent under it, a market where the first year is tight rather than dangerous and the ceiling is earned slowly. On concentration, El Paso is unremarkable, tracking the national rate closely.

   Sources: US Department of Education, College Scorecard; Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, read 2026-08-28.

3. #3

   El Paso Community College

   El Paso, TX

   24%

   Share of students who finish

   • Public institution
   • 52 graduates a year

   What the record shows

   Based in El Paso, El Paso Community College is one of the cosmetology programs the federal government tracks. Across all 24,214 students at the college, 24 percent finish, which covers cosmetology along with everything else it teaches. With only 3 schools on this page there is no median worth quoting; 24 percent finishing is the figure to carry to the other 2. Its 52 completions a year make cosmetology a small program inside a college of 24,214. It is a public college, so the cosmetology course is priced at in-district tuition rather than at an academy price. Its hours count only under a current entry with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, so search that register by the school's legal name before any deposit.

   Where it leads

   For cosmetologists around El Paso, the range runs $22,330 to $49,350 between the tenth and ninetieth percentiles, with a median of $26,970. Against the state as a whole, the metro sits roughly 12 percent under on median pay. Neither end of this market is extreme: the top tenth earns about 1.8 times the median and the floor sits 17 percent under it, which makes the first year a budget question rather than a survival one. On concentration, El Paso is unremarkable, tracking the national rate closely.

   Source: US Department of Education, College Scorecard.

Other Licensed Cosmetology Schools in El Paso

Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation lists 21 currently licensed schools in El Paso. These 19 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. The board's file also holds 1 El Paso record that is no longer active, which is why the roster is longer than this table.

What Texas Asks of an El Paso Cosmetology Student

There is no cosmetology board in Texas. Licensing sits inside the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which regulates barbering and cosmetology together. TDLR asks for 1,000 hours for a cosmetologist license, and it's the same 1,000 hours whether you train in El Paso or anywhere else in the state. A shorter requirement is cheaper to finish, and it's fewer banked hours if you ever move.

Texas also lets up to half of those hours, 500 of them, be delivered online. That's real flexibility if you're working, and it means two schools can advertise the same 1,000 hours and run completely differently. Ask how the split works before you enroll. Which states allow online hours covers the rest of the country.

TDLR publishes an expiration date for every school license and no status field, so a current license here means the date hadn't passed when we pulled the file. One of the 21 El Paso records had. The address is a mailing address too, sometimes a PO box in another town, so it won't always match the campus. How often school licenses lapse is worth a look before you enroll.

Figures in this section: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation; College Scorecard, June 2026.

The Three El Paso Cosmetology Schools in the Federal Data

Tri-State Cosmetology Institute has the strongest completion figure at 88%, with 126 students enrolled and $15,000 for the program. Its graduates carry a median debt of $5,440, the lowest of the three, and report $18,447 five years out across a cohort of 113.

Milan Institute of Cosmetology-El Paso is much larger, 448 enrolled, and finishes 54% of them. Tuition is $12,859 and five-year earnings come in at $19,776. A school that enrolls more than three times as many students and finishes half of them is a different bet from a small one that finishes most, and the price gap between the two is only about $2,100.

El Paso Community College's numbers need reading carefully. The 24% completion and 24,214 students describe the whole college, not the beauty program, so they aren't comparable to a school that only teaches cosmetology. Its five-year earnings figure of $23,733 is the highest of the three.

The order here is the federal completion figure, because that's the one outcome measure published for all three. The methodology spells it out. With a ranked list this short, the Texas page is the more useful comparison, and cities like San Antonio carry their own lists.

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

What Beauty Work Pays in the El Paso Metro

The pay figures are the hard part of this page. The El Paso metro median for hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists is $26,970 against $30,680 across Texas, roughly $3,700 less at the middle. The metro employs 510 of them out of 22,440 statewide, at a location quotient of 0.76, so the trade is thinner here than the national average.

The ceiling is lower too: a top tenth of $49,350 in the metro against $59,730 statewide. Skin work is the exception. The metro's 140 skincare specialists report a median of $43,690, well above the hairdresser median, and Texas as a whole sits at $49,250. Esthetician pay is the page to read if that's the direction you're leaning.

Barbering is worth a look for a different reason. Texas employs 2,580 barbers at a location quotient of 1.90, nearly twice the national concentration, with a state median of $30,760 and a top tenth of $80,430. TDLR issues both licenses, so it's the same agency and the same application process either way.

All of these come from employer payroll in the BLS May 2025 release, which leaves booth renters and self-employed stylists largely uncounted. And 510 employed hairdressers is a small sample to build a budget on. Treat the metro median as a rough middle for salon employment rather than a number you can plan rent around.

Figures in this section: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation; BLS OEWS, May 2025.

What Cosmetology Careers Pay in El Paso

Median annual pay in the El Paso, TX metro area, from the May 2025 BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release. A cosmetologist here earns a median of $26,970 against $30,680 across Texas, with 510 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.

Cosmetology Schools in Nearby Cities

• Cosmetology schools in Houston, TX
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• All of Texas
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Common Questions About Cosmetology School in El Paso

Answers draw on Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the College Scorecard and the May 2025 BLS wage release.