Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,013
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$4,137
12.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,540
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$32,150
Kept after tax
$28,013
Worth in national money
$27,540
State rank
37
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Alaska pays this job a middle wage of $32,150, 37 of 50 states and about 10.17% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Alaska this is lower-paid work. Of 430 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 425. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Alaska costs about what the country costs, so from $32,150, take-home of $28,013 is worth roughly $27,540 in national money. The average comes to $41,750, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alaska's $32,150 median for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists places it 37 of 50 states, about 10.17% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Alaska reports, hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists ranks 425 of 430, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Alaska is near the national base, so for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists, whose median is $32,150, the adjusted figure of $27,540 differs little from $28,013 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $41,750 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,850 |
| This salary | $32,150 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Alaska | $28,013 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,013 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,287 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $32,150 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,556 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $32,150 as a midpoint for Alaska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,900 and the ninetieth is $55,850 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alaska's $28,013, worked from $32,150. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 425 of 430.
- Two cautions on $27,540, the adjusted value of that $32,150 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alaska. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 425 of 430 locally.
- The Alaska median of $32,150 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,900 to $55,850. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Alaska take-home of $28,013, on $32,150 for work ranking 425 of 430 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 425 of 430 in the state.
- This $27,540 adjusted figure, worked from $32,150, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 425 of 430 in the state. The occupation ranks 425 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $41,750, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $30,900 and the top tenth $55,850 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Alaska costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $27,540 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $28,013 survives, because Alaska levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Alaska is $41,750. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($30,900) and the ninetieth ($55,850) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $27,540 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $28,013 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.