Cosmetology and Barber School Revenue Benchmark

Average Cosmetology School Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census

The 2022 Economic Census counts every cosmetology and barber school with paid employees and publishes their combined annual receipts, including tuition and the services students provide to the public in the school's clinic. Dividing that total by the number of schools gives the average annual revenue per employer establishment shown below.

≈$1,208,000 /year

Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment

How this is calculated: about $2 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 1,690 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $1,208,000 per employer establishment.

Scope: Cosmetology and barber schools, NAICS 611511. The category covers schools training cosmetologists, barbers, estheticians and nail technicians. Salons and general professional training providers are counted in separate categories. Classified separately in group 6115: 611512 Flight Training; 611513 Apprenticeship Training; 611519 Other Technical and Trade Schools. Nothing outside that code is counted on this page.

Source US Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, Summary Statistics (ECNBASIC): ESTAB, RCPTOT and PAYANN by NAICS · Vintage 2022 Economic Census · Calculation BusinessNES · Accessed September 2026

Employer Establishments at Year Five Smaller cohort

Technical and Trade Schools, NAICS 6115, the 2018 starting count compared with the count of five-year-old establishments in 2023.

Across the 2014 to 2018 cohorts, five-year results ranged from 57.2 to 63.5 percent. This benchmark covers Technical and Trade Schools, NAICS 6115, as a whole, and this category accounts for 1,690 of the 8,347 employer establishments in it. A count by age is not a survival rate, because the figures compare two headcounts rather than follow one set of businesses.

Payroll as a Share of Revenue Official data

Payroll divided by receipts, both as published for the same year.

Payroll share of receipts, Cosmetology and barber schools, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

Approximately 32.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll, a substantial share because licensed instructors and admissions and financial aid staff are the product, and students supply much of the clinic labor without pay.

Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and it excludes kits, supplies, facilities and the compliance costs of accreditation and financial aid, which together carry much of what a school spends.

Business Scale and Ownership Structure Official data

How large the average establishment is, and whether the population is independent operators or multi-site companies.

Scale and ownership, Cosmetology and barber schools, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

The average establishment employed about 11.0 people, and the industry averaged 1.3 employer establishments per firm, which confirms that multi-establishment ownership exists in the published population without showing how establishments are distributed across firms. As an illustration, that headcount could be instructors, admissions and financial aid staff for a modest enrollment.

These are arithmetic industry averages. They state the size of the average establishment and show that multi-establishment ownership exists. They do not show the distribution of business sizes and they do not measure market concentration.

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Data Source Notice

This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.

Figures above are from the 2022 Economic Census reference year, released by the Census Bureau in 2024 and 2025; markets have moved since.

Questions Worth Asking BusinessNES analysis

Cosmetology and Barber School: what tuition, financial aid and licensing rules do to a school's average.

Before you rely on this benchmark

• How is tuition paid? Many students rely on federal financial aid, which requires accreditation, reporting and compliance that shape a school's costs and eligibility. A school's aid status decides who can enroll and how revenue arrives.
• How many hours does the state require? Licensing hour requirements for cosmetology and barbering vary by state and set the length of a program, which in turn sets tuition and how long a student occupies a seat. State rules shape revenue per student in ways a national average cannot show.
• Does the student clinic pay? Services sold to the public in the student salon bring revenue and give students practice, but they need instructor supervision and supplies. The clinic's share of receipts varies with location and reputation.
• Who teaches? Instructors generally need a license and often an instructor credential, depending on the state, and experienced stylists can earn more in a salon than in a classroom. Instructor supply caps enrollment and drives the payroll share.
• Chain or independent? National and regional school chains share this category with independent schools, with different marketing, accreditation and campus economics. The establishments per firm figure shows both exist.
• What happens to graduates? Completion, licensing and job placement rates are watched by regulators and prospective students, and weak outcomes can cost a school its aid eligibility. Those outcomes are the real product, and receipts do not show them.