Pay data
Makeup artist salary in 2026
The median salary is $97,150 and the top tenth earns $167,470, so the number that matters here is the spread rather than the middle.
Published
Edited by Zoe MacDougall, BS in Psychology
How much do makeup artists make in 2026?
Makeup artists make a median salary of $97,150 a year in 2026, or $46.71 an hour, across 2,340 people on a payroll nationally in the May 2025 OEWS release, which is the most recent published. The mean is $102,240, 5% 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.
Makeup artist wage figures are unlike anything else on this site, and the reason is who is in the sample rather than what the work pays. It is a small, unionized, project-based population concentrated in a few production markets, so the distribution runs from below the median cosmetologist wage at the bottom to a top decile several times higher.
Before you use these numbers
This series covers 2,340 people, almost all on production payrolls, and it is not a description of salon or freelance makeup work. Do not read this median as what a makeup artist earns; read it as what a working production makeup artist on a payroll earns.
What is the full salary range for makeup artists in 2026?
The full salary range for makeup artists in 2026 runs from $23,360 at the bottom tenth to $167,470 at the top tenth, a factor of 7.2. Half of them earn between $34,530 and $143,230, which is the band a reader should plan around rather than the single median figure.
- Bottom 10% $23,360 $23,360
- Lower quarter $34,530 $34,530
- Median $97,150 $97,150
- Upper quarter $143,230 $143,230
- Top 10% $167,470 $167,470
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 makeup artists the most in 2026?
The states paying makeup artists the most in 2026 are Georgia at $143,230, California at $140,870, and New York at $97,150. and none of it is adjusted for what living there costs.
| State | Median | Bottom 10% | Top 10% | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | $143,230 | $64,480 | $162,190 | 200 |
| California | $140,870 | $76,340 | $169,590 | 830 |
| New York | $97,150 | $78,260 | $192,840 | 190 |
| District of Columbia | $95,730 | $52,000 | $111,870 | 60 |
| Florida | $82,400 | $32,040 | $213,850 | 250 |
The median makeup artist salary by state comes from OEWS state estimates for 39-5091, and is not adjusted for cost of living.
5 of the 51 jurisdictions publish a median for this occupation, which is few enough that the table above is most of what exists. A state missing from it is one BLS withheld for a small sample, not one paying nothing.
Do these figures include self-employed makeup artists?
These figures do not include self-employed makeup artists. 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 makeup artists on a salon's payroll, and treat the trade as a whole as unmeasured by it.
How does makeup artist pay compare with other beauty careers?
Makeup artist pay ranks 1 of the 6 roles this site covers, at $97,150. No role covered here has a higher median, though the roles below it have their own upside at the top of their range.
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 (this page) | $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 | $35,790 | $71,190 | 305,710 |
| nail technician | $35,760 | $50,140 | 152,770 |
Common questions about makeup artist pay
Every figure in the answers below is from the May 2025 OEWS release for 39-5091, and describes makeup artists on a payroll rather than the trade as a whole.
How much does a makeup artist make an hour in 2026?
Which state pays makeup artists the most in 2026?
Do these figures include self-employed makeup artists?
Sources
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. National and state medians, percentiles and employment for 39-5091.
- OEWS questions and answers. Survey scope, the exclusion of self-employed workers, and how annual figures are derived from hourly ones.