The State of the Hair Industry in 2026: Jobs, Wages, Salon Suites and Where the Growth Is

Research current as of September 17, 2026. Company figures are self-reported, as noted.

Quick answer: key numbers

  • 670,800 US jobs for barbers, hairstylists and cosmetologists in 2025: 595,000 hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists and 75,800 barbers (BLS).
  • Median pay (May 2025): $35,880/year ($17.25/hour) for the group overall; $17.21/hour for hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists; $18.37/hour for barbers. Tips are included.
  • Projected growth of 7% from 2025 to 2035, which BLS calls "much faster than average." That's about 48,400 new jobs and 80,300 openings a year, mostly replacements.
  • Self-employment is the norm: 80% of barbers and 48% of hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists are self-employed.
  • Salon suites keep expanding: Sola reports 750+ locations, Phenix 420+ and MY SALON Suite 370+ (company figures, 2026).
  • Barbershop revenue grew faster than beauty salon revenue in Census data from 2018 to 2022: +51% vs. +13% for employer firms (FRED/Census).

Jobs and wages

Employment

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook (updated August 27, 2026) counts 670,800 jobs in 2025 (BLS). BLS projects:

Occupation 2025 jobs 2035 projected Change
Hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists 595,000 640,900 +8%
Barbers 75,800 78,300 +3%
Total 670,800 719,200 +7%

The breakdown by occupation comes from BLS's projections table. We read it from the OOH page and couldn't cross-check it against the raw projections file, so treat the split as medium confidence.

Most openings come from people leaving the field or changing careers, not from new positions. That matters for schools and salons: the workforce turns over constantly.

Wages

In May 2025 (BLS):

  • Hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists: median $17.21/hour. The lowest 10% earned under $13.00; the highest 10% over $34.23.
  • Barbers: median $18.37/hour. The lowest 10% earned under $13.75; the highest 10% over $36.76.
  • All US occupations: median about $24.51/hour ($50,980/year).

Read these carefully:

  1. BLS wage estimates come from employer surveys (OEWS), so most self-employed stylists aren't counted. With about half the workforce self-employed, the median describes employees, not suite owners.
  2. Tips are included in the figures.
  3. A median hides wide spreads. A booked colorist in a big metro and a part-time stylist in a small town sit in very different places.

Where the work happens

  • Self-employment: 80% of barbers and 48% of hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists. BLS notes some lease booth space from salon owners.
  • Employers: among hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists, 45% work in personal care services and 5% in retail.

The salon suite boom

Suites give licensed pros a private, lockable studio to run their own business. Big brands report continued growth:

Brand Reported size Date and source
Sola Salons 750+ locations in US and Canada; 21,000+ professionals; 19 openings in 2025 1851 Franchise, Feb. 12, 2026
Phenix Salon Suites 420+ locations; 26 openings in 2025; 30+ planned for 2026 Franchising.com, Jan. 15, 2026
MY SALON Suite 370+ locations; 165 franchisees; 10,000+ members PR Newswire, March 23, 2026

Sola's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, as summarized by a third party, reported 660 franchised and 69 company-owned locations at the end of 2024. Among 625 locations, median 2024 gross revenue was about $420,000 and average December 2024 occupancy was 88.5% (Franchise Chatter). That revenue is the franchise owner's rent income, not stylist earnings.

Caution: Growth in suite counts is not the same as growth in stylist income. Openings at big brands have slowed from earlier years (19 new Sola units in 2025), and occupancy varies widely by location (15%–100% in the FDD data).

Revenue and "market size"

Government data

The Census Bureau's Service Annual Survey (via FRED) covers employer firms only. It excludes most booth and suite renters.

Year Beauty shops revenue Barber shops revenue
2018 $24.0B $1.21B
2019 $24.9B $1.45B
2020 $18.2B $1.13B
2021 $23.0B $1.47B
2022 $27.0B $1.82B

Sources: FRED, beauty shops; FRED, barber shops. Figures are nominal and not adjusted for inflation.

Takeaways: the 2020 pandemic drop was steep. Revenue recovered past 2019 levels by 2022, and barbershops grew faster from a smaller base, which fits the men's grooming and fade culture boom. But inflation explains part of the growth.

Private estimates

  • Market research firm IBISWorld estimates the US hair salon industry at about $60.0 billion in 2025, as cited by booking platform Boulevard (Boulevard, updated June 2026). That's much bigger than Census employer revenue because it tries to include nonemployer businesses. The methodology is proprietary, so treat it as an estimate.
  • The Professional Beauty Association's 2020 snapshot counted 106,227 employer establishments (2019) and 1.12 million nonemployer establishments (2018), with total sales of more than $62 billion. Its definition of the "salon industry" is broader than hair and includes nail and skin businesses (PBA via IAHD). Those figures are now years old.

Bottom line: No single number captures the hair industry. Always check whether an estimate includes self-employed workers, nails and skin, and retail product sales.

Chains: value salons regroup

Regis Corporation (Supercuts, SmartStyle, Cost Cutters and others) has shrunk dramatically over the past decade and now runs a mostly franchised model. For the quarter ending March 31, 2026, Regis reported 3,770 salons: 3,497 franchised and 273 company-owned. It also reported Supercuts same-store sales up 5.0%, quarterly revenue of $52.4 million, net income of $0.7 million, and about $127 million in borrowings it's working to refinance (Business Wire, May 13, 2026). For stylists, the value-chain segment remains a large entry-level employer, but it is much smaller than it once was.

We couldn't verify current location counts for Great Clips or Ulta Beauty's in-store salons for this report.

Policy shifts shaping 2026

  1. Tips deduction. Barbers, hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists are on the federal list of tipped occupations (TTOC 603). Eligible workers can deduct up to $25,000 of qualified tips for 2025–2028 (Federal Register, April 13, 2026).
  2. Multistate licensing. Thirteen states have joined the Cosmetology Licensure Compact (Compact Commission, July 2026). Arizona was reported to issue the first multistate licenses in September 2026 (GL Solutions).
  3. Apprenticeship pathways. Iowa (2025), Utah (effective 2026) and Illinois (2026) opened paid, on-the-job routes as alternatives to beauty school (IJ).
  4. Contractor classification. The US Department of Labor proposed a new independent-contractor rule in February 2026. It was not final as of August 2026 (Jackson Lewis).

Where the growth is: a practical read

Based on the data above, and labeled as our interpretation:

  • Independent work (suites, booth rental, small studios) continues to attract experienced stylists with loyal clients.
  • Barbering and men's grooming show strong revenue momentum, even though BLS projects slower job growth for barbers (+3%) than for hairstylists (+8%).
  • Specialty skills, such as textured-hair services, extensions, lived-in color and color correction, support higher tickets. We found no national data measuring this directly.
  • Portability and alternative training could widen the talent pipeline as the compact and apprenticeships roll out.

What we don't know yet

  • Reliable counts of booth renters and suite renters nationwide. No government survey tracks them directly.
  • Earnings of self-employed stylists. OEWS wage data mostly excludes them.
  • Post-2022 Census revenue by industry, which wasn't available in the FRED series we used.
  • How fast states beyond Arizona will issue compact licenses.

FAQ

Is hairstyling a growing career? Yes. BLS projects 7% growth from 2025 to 2035 for barbers, hairstylists and cosmetologists combined, with about 80,300 openings a year.

How much do hairstylists make in 2026? The latest BLS data (May 2025) shows a median of $17.21/hour for hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists, tips included. Self-employed earnings aren't well captured.

How many salon suites are there? There's no official count. The three largest brands alone report about 1,500+ locations combined (company figures, 2026).

Are barbershops growing faster than salons? In Census employer data, barbershop revenue grew about 51% from 2018 to 2022, compared with about 13% for beauty shops (nominal dollars).

How big is the US hair salon industry? Estimates range from about $27 billion (Census, employer firms only, 2022) to about $60 billion (IBISWorld, 2025, including nonemployers). The definition drives the number.

Sources