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

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Manicurists and Pedicurists

SOC 39-5092 · 2024-2034

Clean and shape customers' fingernails and toenails. May polish or decorate nails.

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

What California expects of this job

Typical pay in California
$37,558per year
Projected openings
65,240
Projected change
+10%
Usually needs
Postsecondary non-degree award

Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Rapid Growth

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. Speaking
  2. Active Listening
  3. Service Orientation
  4. Social Perceptiveness
  5. Time Management
  6. Coordination

Pay by region

RegionTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openings
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties)$41,0863,840
Napa MSA (Napa County)$38,247200
Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties)$37,980100
Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County)$37,959570
San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties)$37,5372,590
Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties)$37,5244,610
Vallejo MSA (Solano County)$37,126790
Salinas MSA (Monterey County)$36,540340
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County)$36,4786,960
Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County)$36,3761,100
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties)$36,1395,280
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County)$36,129220
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County)$35,9778,110
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County)$35,97719,260
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County)$35,748340
North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties)$35,39990
Chico MSA (Butte County)$35,183230
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County)$35,1211,140
Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County)$35,069810
Redding MSA (Shasta County)$34,987170
North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties)$34,854160
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties)$34,7307,700
Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County)$34,710110
Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties)$34,4221,530
Visalia MSA (Tulare County)$34,411400
Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County)$34,370580
San Rafael MD (Marin County)Not reported550
Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County)Not reported270

What the pay actually ranges across

The lowest-paid tenth earn under
$35,722
A quarter earn under
$36,379
Half earn under
$37,558
Three quarters earn under
$40,593
The highest-paid tenth earn over
$48,457

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
Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists$39,63968,190+7.3%
Barbers$39,3526,380+7.1%
Skincare Specialists$39,75223,330+9.9%
Furniture Finishers$50,2001,240-13.3%
Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance$144,4382,590+12.5%
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$54,15811,790+2.5%

Programs that train for this job — 35