Average Salary

• In figures published in January 2011, PayScale.com listed the average annual salary for a beautician working in the United States as $17,215 to $35,318. This figure is dependent upon bonuses and profit sharing, and equates to a monthly salary of between $1,435 and $2,943. It coincides with previous figures produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in May 2009 that put the national mean wage for a cosmetologist at $27,070.
  
  

Salary by Experience

• PayScale.com did find, during its January 2011 analysis of the American beautician salary, that there can be large differences in average salaries depending upon the amount of experience a beautician has accrued. While the average yearly salary for a beautician with between one and four years of experience was listed at $11,000 to $31,298, this rose to between $23,422 and $57,000 for those with five to nine years in the industry. A similar wage level was attained by beauticians with 20 years or more experience: $21,975 to $58,958.
  
  

Salary by Employer

• Another variable surveyed by PayScale.com was the impact of employer type on beautician salaries. There are two primary modes of employment for beauticians: working for a company (such as a hairdresser or beauty salon) and self-employment. PayScale.com lists the average salary range for the former as between $19,200 and $42,907, while the latter has figures of $19,000 to $33,402.
  
  

Salary by Location

• A third factor influencing a beautician's wage level is the geographic location in which she practices her profession. The Bureau of Labor Statistics conducted a survey of cosmetologist salaries in several states across the country and found that, as of May 2009, the District of Columbia offered the highest annual salary ($43,330) followed by Hawaii ($39,390) and Delaware ($33,800). Pennsylvania employed the most cosmetologists -- some 23,670, but only offered a mean annual wage of $24,740.
  
  

Outlook

• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that demand for cosmetologists will rise by approximately 20 percent through 2018. This will be due primarily to an increasing population and, thus, more business openings to meet the demand for cosmetic procedures. As such, salaries for beauticians should remain very competitive.