PAY BY JOB

Hairdresser pay, for employers

What hairdressers earn, from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) medians, what one costs to employ, how the job is paid and whether overtime is owed.

Wages: BLS medians for May 2025. Pay and overtime rules checked on October 6, 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page. For employers. General information, not legal or tax advice: federal rules only, and a state's law can require more.

Hairdresser pay at a glance

Median a year: $35,790
Median an hour: $17.21
BLS period: May 2025
Federal overtime: Owed after 40 hours

What hairdressers earn

National median: $35,790 a year, $17.21 an hour (May 2025)BLS occupation: Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists (SOC 39-5012).Source: BLS OEWS May 2025, national, Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists, all industries: annual median, series OEUN000000000000039501213 (BLS data API, JSON) (opens in a new tab), checked October 6, 2026; BLS OEWS May 2025, national, Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists, all industries: hourly median, series OEUN000000000000039501208 (BLS data API, JSON) (opens in a new tab), checked October 6, 2026
What the median covers: For hairdressers the median includes tips.For hairdressers the median includes commissions.BLS medians include base rate; cost-of-living allowances; guaranteed pay; hazardous-duty pay; incentive pay, including commissions and production bonuses; and tips.They leave out overtime pay; severance pay; shift differentials; nonproduction bonuses; employer cost for supplementary benefits; and tuition reimbursements.The annual figure is the hourly median times 2,080 hours.Source: BLS, May 2025 OEWS Estimates: technical notes (opens in a new tab), read from an archived copy dated August 30, 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Median pay by state

BLS medians for hairdressers in each state and DC, May 2025.

State	Median a year	Median an hour
Alabama	$29,150	$14.02
Alaska	$32,150	$15.46
Arizona	$36,810	$17.70
Arkansas	$28,830	$13.86
California	$38,660	$18.59
Colorado	$37,690	$18.12
Connecticut	$44,620	$21.45
Delaware	$34,350	$16.51
District of Columbia	$54,570	$26.23
Florida	$29,530	$14.20
Georgia	$34,560	$16.62
Hawaii	$35,040	$16.85
Idaho	$35,480	$17.06
Illinois	$34,040	$16.37
Indiana	$32,830	$15.78
Iowa	$35,700	$17.17
Kansas	$29,710	$14.28
Kentucky	$29,840	$14.35
Louisiana	$26,030	$12.51
Maine	$44,000	$21.16
Maryland	$36,420	$17.51
Massachusetts	$37,290	$17.93
Michigan	$34,820	$16.74
Minnesota	$39,170	$18.83
Mississippi	$27,560	$13.25
Missouri	$30,750	$14.78
Montana	$38,000	$18.27
Nebraska	$34,320	$16.50
Nevada	$33,840	$16.27
New Hampshire	$34,650	$16.66
New Jersey	$36,150	$17.38
New Mexico	$37,750	$18.15
New York	$35,760	$17.19
North Carolina	$38,410	$18.47
North Dakota	$34,850	$16.76
Ohio	$36,260	$17.43
Oklahoma	$29,650	$14.26
Oregon	$57,580	$27.68
Pennsylvania	$36,790	$17.69
Rhode Island	$31,200	$15.00
South Carolina	$33,700	$16.20
South Dakota	$49,800	$23.94
Tennessee	$31,310	$15.05
Texas	$30,680	$14.75
Utah	$35,140	$16.89
Vermont	$48,650	$23.39
Virginia	Not published by BLS
Washington	$59,510	$28.61
West Virginia	$34,480	$16.58
Wisconsin	$36,230	$17.42
Wyoming	$29,170	$14.03

BLS publishes no median for hairdressers in Virginia; none is estimated here. Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 state estimates (oesm25st.zip) (opens in a new tab), read from an archived copy dated October 4, 2026 (opens in a new tab)

What one costs to employ

The national median as the year's gross wages, plus your Social Security, Medicare and FUTA. Enter your state unemployment rate and wage base, workers' comp rate, benefits and overhead for your own figure.

The median includes tips. Customers pay the tips, but your Social Security, Medicare and FUTA are owed on reported tips too (IRS Publication 15, section 6), so the tax lines below use the full median. The wages you pay are the median less the tips.

WORKED EXAMPLE

One year: a hairdresser at the national median, $35,790 (BLS, May 2025)

26 U.S.C. §§3111, 3301

Gross wagesFor the year, all subject to FICA and FUTA

Social Security, employer share6.2% of wages up to $184,500 (2026)

$2,218.98

Medicare, employer share1.45% of all wages

$518.96

FUTA0.6% of the first $7,000, with the full 5.4% credit

$42.00

State unemploymentYour assigned rate, on your state’s wage base

%on$

Workers’ compensationYour insurer’s rate per $100 of payroll

BenefitsYour share of premiums and retirement contributions

OverheadEquipment, training, and other costs you assign

Wages: $35,790.00Employer taxes and comp: $2,779.94Benefits and overhead: $0.00

Cost of the employee$38,569.94For the year

On top of wages$2,779.94

Multiple of wages1.08×

Adding the employee’s withheld FICA would count $2,737.94 twiceThe employee’s share comes out of the wages you already counted; only your matching share adds cost.

$2,737.94counted twice

Employer cost of one employee for calendar year 2026: 6.2% Social Security on wages up to $184,500 (2026), 1.45% Medicare, and FUTA at 0.6% of the first $7,000 a year with the full 5.4% credit, plus the state unemployment, workers’ compensation, benefits, and overhead you enter, with all wages subject to FICA and FUTA. It leaves out credit reduction states, pay that FICA or FUTA excludes, such as your health plan contributions, and how the cost spreads across pay periods. Other cases and state law can change the result.

State unemployment rates and wage bases: Payroll tax rates by state

How hairdressers are paid

Each way of paying the job, with the federal rule for its regular rate and overtime. Where the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook says how the job is paid, its words are quoted.

Hourly: Paid by the hour. When the hourly rate is the only pay and no tip credit is taken, it is the regular rate; with a tip credit, the regular rate also includes the credit. Each hour over 40 in the workweek earns half the regular rate on top.Source: 29 CFR 778.110 (opens in a new tab), checked October 6, 2026; 29 CFR 531.60 (opens in a new tab)
Commission: Hairdressers can be paid by commission.Commissions are pay for hours worked: they go into the regular rate for overtime however often they are paid. For federal withholding, a commission paid or shown separately may be withheld at the flat 22% supplemental rate; paid with regular wages and not shown separately, it is withheld as one regular payment.Source: 29 CFR 778.117 (opens in a new tab), checked October 6, 2026; IRS Publication 15 (2026), sections 6 and 7 (opens in a new tab)
Tips: Tips belong to the employee. An employer that tells the employee it takes the federal tip credit pays at least $2.13 an hour in cash wages and counts tips toward the rest of the minimum wage, and no employer may keep tips. Employees report cash tips by the 10th of the next month, and the employer withholds on them from wages or other funds the employee makes available, as supplemental wages or, at its option, as regular wages.BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: “Barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists may receive tips from customers. These tips are included in the wage data shown.”Source: 29 CFR 531.50 (opens in a new tab), checked October 6, 2026; 29 U.S.C. 203 (opens in a new tab); IRS Publication 15 (2026), sections 6 and 7 (opens in a new tab); BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Pay (opens in a new tab), read from an archived copy dated September 18, 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Overtime

Owed after 40 hours: Owed: time and a half of the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek, with one exception: an employee of a retail or service establishment whose regular rate is over 1.5 times the minimum wage and who earns more than half their pay in commissions over a representative period of at least a month is exempt from overtime.Federal rule only: a state's overtime law can require more.Source: 29 U.S.C. 207 (opens in a new tab), checked October 6, 2026; 29 CFR 779.411 (opens in a new tab)

Industry and workers' comp

Workers' comp class codes: Worklio Insurance has no page yet for a class code that commonly covers hairdressers. The class follows your business and the manual filed in your state.All class codes on Worklio Insurance

WORKLIO HCM

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Sources

The data series, regulation or document behind each figure and rule, as checked.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements with the relevant agency or your advisor. You remain responsible for how you classify and pay each employee.

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