The median hairstylist in Florida spends 74 percent of her pay on the median rent. In South Dakota it is 24 percent.
The national pay figure for hairstylists hides two things. It leaves out the half of stylists who are self-employed, and it ignores what living costs where the stylist works.
So below is the national number, then every state's median stylist pay set against that state's median rent. As far as I can find, nobody else ranking for this question has done the second part.
The short answer
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists earned a median of $35,790 a year, or $17.21 an hour, in May 2025. The average was $43,960 a year, or $21.13 an hour. The average sits higher because a small group of top earners pulls it up.
That works out to about $2,980 a month before tax at the median, about $4,070 a month for the top quarter, and about $5,930 a month for the top 10 percent.
| Where you sit | Per year | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest 10 percent | $27,040 | $2,253 |
| Lowest 25 percent | $30,120 | $2,510 |
| Median (half earn more) | $35,790 | $2,983 |
| Top 25 percent | $48,830 | $4,069 |
| Top 10 percent | $71,190 | $5,933 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 39-5012, covering 305,710 employed stylists. Pulled from the BLS public data API on October 22, 2026. Monthly figures are the annual figures divided by 12.
Who that number leaves out
It only counts people on a payroll. The wage survey covers wage and salary workers. The Bureau's own handbook puts self-employed workers at 48 percent of hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists. Every booth renter, suite owner and independent stylist is missing from the median.
Tips are hard to count. A survey of employer payroll records sees tips unevenly, so read the figure as a floor on what employed stylists take home.
Part-time stylists count as a whole person. Someone working three days a week sits in the same pool as someone working six.
None of this makes the median useless. It makes it a description of the employed half of the trade, not the whole job.
Stylist pay after rent, in every state
A $38,000 salary means one thing in Sioux Falls and another in Miami. So I took each state's median stylist pay from the BLS and subtracted twelve months of that state's median gross rent from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
The result is a rough measure of how far a typical employed stylist's pay stretches where she lives. It is not a budget. It is before tax, and the rent is the median for every renting household in the state, not a stylist's own lease.
What stands out:
- Oregon leaves the most. Median stylist pay is $57,580 and median rent is $1,597 a month, leaving $38,416.
- South Dakota is the quiet winner. Pay is lower than Oregon's, but rent takes only 24 percent of it, the smallest share in the country.
- Florida leaves the least. Median stylist pay is $29,530 and median rent is $1,812 a month. A year of rent takes 74 percent of pay.
- California pays above the national median and still ranks 45th. Pay is $38,660, but rent at $2,104 a month takes 65 percent of it.
- In 17 states, median rent takes more than half of median stylist pay. In 7 it takes less than 35 percent.
| Rank | State | Median pay | Median rent a month | Rent share of pay | Left after rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon | $57,580 | $1,597 | 33.3% | $38,416 |
| 2 | South Dakota | $49,800 | $999 | 24.1% | $37,812 |
| 3 | Washington | $59,510 | $1,824 | 36.8% | $37,622 |
| 4 | Vermont | $48,650 | $1,319 | 32.5% | $32,822 |
| 5 | District of Columbia | $54,570 | $1,931 | 42.5% | $31,398 |
| 6 | Maine | $44,000 | $1,210 | 33.0% | $29,480 |
| 7 | Connecticut | $44,620 | $1,550 | 41.7% | $26,020 |
| 8 | New Mexico | $37,750 | $1,117 | 35.5% | $24,346 |
| 9 | Iowa | $35,700 | $981 | 33.0% | $23,928 |
| 10 | West Virginia | $34,480 | $883 | 30.7% | $23,884 |
| 11 | Montana | $38,000 | $1,177 | 37.2% | $23,876 |
| 12 | Minnesota | $39,170 | $1,291 | 39.6% | $23,678 |
| 13 | Ohio | $36,260 | $1,090 | 36.1% | $23,180 |
| 14 | North Dakota | $34,850 | $980 | 33.7% | $23,090 |
| 15 | Wisconsin | $36,230 | $1,142 | 37.8% | $22,526 |
| 16 | North Carolina | $38,410 | $1,338 | 41.8% | $22,354 |
| 17 | Pennsylvania | $36,790 | $1,252 | 40.8% | $21,766 |
| 18 | Nebraska | $34,320 | $1,102 | 38.5% | $21,096 |
| 19 | Michigan | $34,820 | $1,168 | 40.3% | $20,804 |
| 20 | Indiana | $32,830 | $1,104 | 40.4% | $19,582 |
| 21 | Idaho | $35,480 | $1,384 | 46.8% | $18,872 |
| 22 | South Carolina | $33,700 | $1,272 | 45.3% | $18,436 |
| 23 | Illinois | $34,040 | $1,322 | 46.6% | $18,176 |
| 24 | Missouri | $30,750 | $1,067 | 41.6% | $17,946 |
| 25 | Kentucky | $29,840 | $998 | 40.1% | $17,864 |
| 26 | Wyoming | $29,170 | $998 | 41.1% | $17,194 |
| 27 | Oklahoma | $29,650 | $1,044 | 42.3% | $17,122 |
| 28 | Arkansas | $28,830 | $982 | 40.9% | $17,046 |
| 29 | Kansas | $29,710 | $1,079 | 43.6% | $16,762 |
| 30 | Arizona | $36,810 | $1,672 | 54.5% | $16,746 |
| 31 | Georgia | $34,560 | $1,506 | 52.3% | $16,488 |
| 32 | Alabama | $29,150 | $1,077 | 44.3% | $16,226 |
| 33 | New York | $35,760 | $1,634 | 54.8% | $16,152 |
| 34 | Utah | $35,140 | $1,593 | 54.4% | $16,024 |
| 35 | Delaware | $34,350 | $1,530 | 53.4% | $15,990 |
| 36 | New Hampshire | $34,650 | $1,558 | 54.0% | $15,954 |
| 37 | Tennessee | $31,310 | $1,284 | 49.2% | $15,902 |
| 38 | Colorado | $37,690 | $1,822 | 58.0% | $15,826 |
| 39 | Maryland | $36,420 | $1,721 | 56.7% | $15,768 |
| 40 | Mississippi | $27,560 | $990 | 43.1% | $15,680 |
| 41 | Massachusetts | $37,290 | $1,848 | 59.5% | $15,114 |
| 42 | Alaska | $32,150 | $1,444 | 53.9% | $14,822 |
| 43 | New Jersey | $36,150 | $1,800 | 59.8% | $14,550 |
| 44 | Rhode Island | $31,200 | $1,418 | 54.5% | $14,184 |
| 45 | California | $38,660 | $2,104 | 65.3% | $13,412 |
| 46 | Nevada | $33,840 | $1,709 | 60.6% | $13,332 |
| 47 | Louisiana | $26,030 | $1,064 | 49.1% | $13,262 |
| 48 | Texas | $30,680 | $1,475 | 57.7% | $12,980 |
| 49 | Hawaii | $35,040 | $1,942 | 66.5% | $11,736 |
| 50 | Florida | $29,530 | $1,812 | 73.6% | $7,786 |
Sources: pay is BLS OEWS May 2025, occupation 39-5012, state median annual wage. Rent is U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, table B25064, median gross rent, from the Census summary file. Virginia is left out because the BLS did not publish a median for it. The two surveys cover different years (2025 pay, 2024 rent), so the gaps are approximate. Calculated October 22, 2026.
Commission vs booth rent, at three ticket sizes
The survey above covers employed stylists. Booth renters are paid differently, and two stylists ringing up the same work can take home very different amounts.
The example below uses made-up inputs so the arithmetic is easy to follow. They are not survey figures. Swap in your own.
- 25 services a week, 48 working weeks a year
- Commission stylist keeps 45 percent of service sales
- Booth renter pays $250 a week and spends 10 percent of sales on product, card fees and booking software
| Average ticket | Yearly service sales | Commission, 45% | Booth rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60 | $72,000 | $32,400 | $52,800 |
| $100 | $120,000 | $54,000 | $96,000 |
| $150 | $180,000 | $81,000 | $150,000 |
On paper booth rent wins at every ticket size. Three things close the gap in real life.
The booth renter pays both halves of payroll tax. Self-employment tax is 15.3 percent on most of net earnings. An employee pays 7.65 percent and the salon pays the rest. With that in, the break-even in this example is about $600 a week in service sales.
The 25 services are the hard part. A commission salon supplies the front desk, the walk-ins and often the new clients. A renter has to find every one of them, and a quiet week still costs $250.
Commission salons often pay for things a renter buys. Education, backbar product, insurance and sometimes paid time off. Put a dollar figure on each before comparing.
There is a longer breakdown in booth rent vs commission.
The spread is the story
Nationally, the top 10 percent of employed stylists earn 2.6 times the bottom 10 percent with the same license.
The gap comes from a handful of things that have little to do with how well someone cuts.
What you charge. It is the most direct lever, and the one many stylists leave alone for years while product and rent climb.
How full the book is. A price rise on a half-empty column is arithmetic, not income. Rebooking before the client leaves the chair is what makes the price hold.
What you are known for. A specialist in extensions or color correction prices differently than someone who does a bit of everything.
Where you work. The state table above shows the same median job leaving $7,786 in one state and $38,416 in another.
If you own the salon
These numbers are your hiring market. The state median tells you what a stylist can walk down the street and get. If your best colorist earns near it while producing well above it, someone else's offer will eventually look good to her.
Be careful converting commission stylists to booth rent. It moves risk onto people who may not be able to carry it yet, and the ones who fail on rent leave. Look at whose book is already full first.
The short version
The median employed hairstylist earned $35,790 in May 2025. Half the profession is not in that figure. Where the stylist lives changes the picture as much as what she earns: a year of median rent takes 24 percent of median stylist pay in South Dakota and 74 percent in Florida.
