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California training programs, and what happened to the people who took them

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Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists

SOC 39-5012 · 2024-2034

Provide beauty services, such as cutting, coloring, and styling hair, and massaging and treating scalp. May shampoo hair, apply makeup, dress wigs, remove hair, and provide nail and skincare services.

How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.

What California expects of this job

Typical pay in California
$39,639per year
Projected openings
68,190
Projected change
+7.3%
Usually needs
Postsecondary non-degree award

Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Rapid Growth · Numerous Job Openings

The Department's own designation, made from its national projections. It is not this project's assessment and it is not California's: every other figure on this page comes from California's projection, which can point the other way and for some occupations does.

Skills this work uses most

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.

  1. Active Listening
  2. Speaking
  3. Service Orientation
  4. Critical Thinking
  5. Judgment and Decision Making
  6. Active Learning

Pay by region

RegionTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openings
San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties)$44,8383,320
Napa MSA (Napa County)$44,264160
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County)$43,94814,650
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties)$42,7835,140
Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties)$41,6094,580
Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County)$40,921420
Vallejo MSA (Solano County)$40,150430
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County)$39,8494,850
Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County)$39,728620
Salinas MSA (Monterey County)$39,420430
Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County)$38,638540
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County)$38,3305,970
North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties)$38,216170
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County)$38,155230
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County)$37,898410
Visalia MSA (Tulare County)$37,486270
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County)$37,394870
Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County)$37,36380
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties)$37,3324,530
Merced MSA (Merced County)$36,931250
Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County)$36,931690
Chico MSA (Butte County)$36,910150
Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County)$36,859510
Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties)$36,766130
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties)$36,6644,210
Redding MSA (Shasta County)$36,653140
Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties)$36,550960
San Rafael MD (Marin County)Not reported770

What the pay actually ranges across

The lowest-paid tenth earn under
$36,256
A quarter earn under
$37,527
Half earn under
$39,639
Three quarters earn under
$50,272
The highest-paid tenth earn over
$70,379

A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.

Similar work

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.

OccupationTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openingsProjected change
Barbers$39,3526,380+7.1%
Skincare Specialists$39,75223,330+9.9%
Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance$144,4382,590+12.5%
Manicurists and Pedicurists$37,55865,240+10%
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers$45,3726,190-9.6%
Retail Salespersons$38,790549,460-1.3%

Programs that train for this job — 59