Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,907
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$3,623
12.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,043
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$29,530
Kept after tax
$25,907
Worth in national money
$25,043
State rank
45
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Florida pays this job a middle wage of $29,530, 45 of 50 states and about 17.49% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Florida this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 490. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Florida is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $29,530 the take-home is $25,907; in national-average money that behaves like $25,043. The average comes to $36,210, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Florida's $29,530 median for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists places it 45 of 50 states, about 17.49% 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 Florida reports, hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists ranks 490 of 493, 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.
- Take-home for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in Florida, on $29,530, is $25,907; deflated by the state's price level, $25,043. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $36,210 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,320 |
| This salary | $29,530 |
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 Florida | $25,907 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,907 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,618 |
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 | $29,530 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,934 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in Florida earn under $29,530 and half over. The published range runs $27,450 at the tenth percentile to $58,320 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Florida the take-home figure of $25,907, from $29,530, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 490 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $25,043 uses one figure for the whole of Florida. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 490.
- Figures are distribution medians for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in Florida, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,450 to $58,320; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Florida is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $25,907 from $29,530. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 490 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $25,043, worked from $29,530, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Florida address, on work sitting at 490 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $36,210, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $27,450 at the bottom tenth to $58,320 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Florida costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $25,043 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $25,907 survives, because Florida 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?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Florida is $36,210. 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 ($27,450) and the ninetieth ($58,320) 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?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $25,043 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?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $25,907 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.