Pay data
Cosmetologist salary in 2026
The median salary is $35,790 and the top tenth earns $71,190, so the number that matters here is the spread rather than the middle.
Published
Edited by Zoe MacDougall, BS in Psychology
How much do cosmetologists make in 2026?
Cosmetologists make a median salary of $35,790 a year in 2026, or $17.21 an hour, across 305,710 people on a payroll nationally in the May 2025 OEWS release, which is the most recent published. The mean is $43,960, 23% above the median, and the gap between the two is the first thing worth noticing: an average pulled that far above the midpoint means a minority earning a great deal more than the middle.
Cosmetologist pay is a commission and tip business layered on a low base, so the distribution is wide and the middle is not where most of the story is. The bottom tenth earns close to minimum wage while building a book; the top tenth earns roughly double the median. Where a stylist sits in that spread is mostly a function of how many clients rebook, not of how long they have been licensed.
Before you use these numbers
Booth renters are self-employed and BLS does not count them, so these figures describe stylists on a salon payroll rather than the trade as a whole.
What is the full salary range for cosmetologists in 2026?
The full salary range for cosmetologists in 2026 runs from $27,040 at the bottom tenth to $71,190 at the top tenth, a factor of 2.6. Half of them earn between $30,120 and $48,830, which is the band a reader should plan around rather than the single median figure.
- Bottom 10% $27,040 $27,040
- Lower quarter $30,120 $30,120
- Median $35,790 $35,790
- Upper quarter $48,830 $48,830
- Top 10% $71,190 $71,190
Annual figures are hourly wages multiplied by 2,080 hours, which assumes full-time year-round work. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Which states pay cosmetologists the most in 2026?
The states paying cosmetologists the most in 2026 are Washington at $59,510, Oregon at $57,580, and District of Columbia at $54,570. Across every state that publishes a figure, the best-paying is 129% above the worst, and none of it is adjusted for what living there costs.
| State | Median | Bottom 10% | Top 10% | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | $59,510 | $36,830 | $99,970 | 6,930 |
| Oregon | $57,580 | $34,880 | $76,810 | 1,860 |
| District of Columbia | $54,570 | $36,400 | $130,950 | 870 |
| South Dakota | $49,800 | $32,090 | $61,900 | 690 |
| Vermont | $48,650 | $30,960 | $80,530 | 440 |
| Connecticut | $44,620 | $34,010 | $72,620 | 4,090 |
| Maine | $44,000 | $30,640 | $63,640 | 970 |
| Minnesota | $39,170 | $23,590 | $78,880 | 5,320 |
| California | $38,660 | $35,360 | $68,640 | 27,080 |
| North Carolina | $38,410 | $26,880 | $61,530 | 8,490 |
The median cosmetologist salary by state comes from OEWS state estimates for 39-5012, and is not adjusted for cost of living.
At the other end, the lowest published medians are Louisiana at $26,030, Mississippi at $27,560, Arkansas at $28,830, Alabama at $29,150, Wyoming at $29,170.
50 of the 51 jurisdictions publish a median for this occupation. A state missing from it is one BLS withheld for a small sample, not one paying nothing.
Do these figures include self-employed cosmetologists?
These figures do not include self-employed cosmetologists. The OEWS survey collects from employers, so everyone who works for themselves is outside its scope, and BLS says so plainly in its own footnote: estimates do not include self-employed workers.
That exclusion matters more in this field than in most. Renting a chair or a booth makes a stylist self-employed for this purpose even though they work in someone else's salon every day, and it is a normal way to work rather than an edge case. So read every figure on this page as the pay of cosmetologists on a salon's payroll, and treat the trade as a whole as unmeasured by it.
How does cosmetologist pay compare with other beauty careers?
Cosmetologist pay ranks 5 of the 6 roles this site covers, at $35,790. The roles paying more at the median are makeup artists, salon managers, estheticians, barbers.
Median pay for all six rows is BLS national figures from the same May 2025 release, so they are comparable with each other.
| Role | Median | Top 10% | On payrolls |
|---|---|---|---|
| makeup artist | $97,150 | $167,470 | 2,340 |
| salon manager | $48,590 | $75,330 | 114,110 |
| esthetician | $45,330 | $82,050 | 72,890 |
| barber | $38,210 | $76,460 | 15,000 |
| cosmetologist (this page) | $35,790 | $71,190 | 305,710 |
| nail technician | $35,760 | $50,140 | 152,770 |
Common questions about cosmetologist pay
Every figure in the answers below is from the May 2025 OEWS release for 39-5012, and describes cosmetologists on a payroll rather than the trade as a whole.
How much does a cosmetologist make an hour in 2026?
Which state pays cosmetologists the most in 2026?
Do these figures include self-employed cosmetologists?
Sources
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. National and state medians, percentiles and employment for 39-5012.
- OEWS questions and answers. Survey scope, the exclusion of self-employed workers, and how annual figures are derived from hourly ones.