How much does a barber make a year?

Employed barbers earn a median of $38,210 a year and a mean of $47,070, BLS May 2025, counting employees only, about one barber in five. Barber shops with no employees average $32,830 a year in gross receipts before rent, supplies and tax, Census 2024, part-timers included. The ZIP tool above shows your county.

How much do barbers make an hour?

Employed barbers earn a median of $18.37 an hour, BLS May 2025. The lowest 10% earn under $13.75 and the top 10% over $36.76. BLS says tips are included in these figures. They cover employees only: the 80% of barbers who are self-employed are not counted.

How much does a barber make a day?

No agency publishes a daily figure. Barbers who filmed a day of cuts reported $435 (aynjul, nine cuts in about 4.5 hours), $558 (Lifted Up Barber, 12 cuts, a day he called really good) and $610 to $650 by mid-afternoon (Jos Cuts, on a slow Wednesday). Those are single days, gross.

How much do barbers charge for a haircut?

Prices the barbers on this page stated: $25 for a base fade (Pico.Blurred, part-time, home studio), $40 (Lifted Up Barber, up from $35), $60, or $75 with a beard (Jos Cuts), and $80 (Jefe Cuts, 2023). A barber on commission keeps a share of that price, often half.

Do barbers make good money?

It depends on which barbers you count. Employed barbers earn a median of $38,210 a year, below the $50,980 median for all US workers (BLS, May 2025, employees only). The top 25% of employed barbers earn over $58,960. One-person barber shops average $32,830 in gross receipts before rent, supplies and tax.

That is the customer's call, and this page gives no tip amount. The IRS lists barbers as an occupation that customarily receives tips (entry 603). A tip is income to the barber, and qualified tips can count toward the federal tips deduction for tax years 2025 through 2028.

Do you tip a barber who owns the shop?

That is the customer's call. The tax rules apply either way: a tip is income to the barber who receives it, and a self-employed owner reports it with business income on Schedule C. The federal tips deduction covers the self-employed too, up to the net income of the business.

How does barber commission work?

The shop provides the chair, the supplies and often the clients, and the barber keeps a share of each cut. Shop owner Alex Jaramillo calls 50% the most common split and says large chains pay about 40% at most. Some shops, his included, pay an hourly wage plus commission.

Is booth rent or commission better for barbers?

This page does not pick; the fork above sets out both. Renting a chair or suite keeps everything above the rent, with rent due in slow weeks. Commission trades about half of each cut for the chair, the supplies and the clients. The calculator above runs both with your own numbers.

How much do barbershop owners make?

No agency publishes barbershop owner pay. Census reports what shops pay their staff: barber shops with employees paid $33,666 a year per employee in 2023, part-timers included. Barber shops with no employees, where the owner works alone, average $32,830 in gross receipts before rent, supplies and tax (2024).

How much do barbers make in California, Texas, New York or Florida?

BLS May 2025 medians for employed barbers: Florida $49,410 a year, New York $38,580, California $38,380, Texas $30,760. These cover employees only. One-person barber shops average $37,486 in gross receipts in California, $36,789 in Florida, $31,026 in New York and $30,466 in Texas (Census, 2024).

Do barbers make more than hairstylists?

Employed barbers earn a little more: a median of $38,210 a year, against $35,790 for hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists, BLS May 2025. Both figures leave out the self-employed, and that matters more for barbers: 80% of barbers are self-employed, against 48% of hairdressers.

Can barbers make 6 figures?

No official figure reaches it: the top 10% of employed barbers earn over $76,460 a year (BLS, May 2025). None of the barbers on this page published a full year's income. Shop owner Alex Jaramillo says he has seen barbers make over $100,000 a year, and barely minimum wage.

Barber pay

How Much Do Barbers Make?

Q: How much do barbers make?

It depends on how they work. Employed barbers earn a median of $38,210 a year (BLS, May 2025), but that covers only the one barber in five who is an employee; 80% are self-employed. Barber shops with no employees average $32,830 in gross receipts, before rent, supplies and tax (Census, 2024).

Four in five barbers work for themselves, so the official wage figure for barbers covers only one barber in five. This page gives three honest numbers for barber pay, from three different groups of barbers, and they do not agree.

Which group you land in depends mostly on one choice: splitting every cut with a shop on commission, or renting a chair or suite and keeping the rest. Where you work matters too. Type your ZIP code below to see your county.

$38,210 a year

Median for employed barbers, $18.37 an hour, across 15,000 jobs (BLS, May 2025)[1]

Employees only. The 80% of barbers who are self-employed are not in it.

$32,830 a year

Average gross receipts of a barber shop with no employees, across 154,456 shops (Census, 2024 data)[3]

Before chair or suite rent, supplies and tax, and part-time shops are counted too.

$435–$800 a day

What four working barbers published for a single day of cuts, from 2023 to about 2025[32]

Gross, one day each, from barbers who chose to publish their numbers.

The rest of this page is about which of these you would be.

Barber pay near you

One-person barber shops gross $51,060 a year on average in Arizona and $19,116 in Mississippi

Type a ZIP code to see what barber shops with no employees gross in your county. BLS publishes barber pay for only 39 of 528 areas, so the tool uses Census receipts for 2,165 counties, and the state figure where a county has too few shops. It covers 40,767 US ZIP codes.

Your ZIP code

One-person barber shops in King County (Seattle) gross $50,656 a year, 54% above the national average

Census 2024: 445 barber shops with no employees in King County, Washington, averaged $50,656 in gross receipts, against $32,830 nationally. Receipts are before rent, supplies and tax.

In Travis County (Austin), one-person barber shops gross $48,384 a year, well above the Texas average of $30,466

Census 2024 counted 471 barber shops with no employees in Travis County, averaging $48,384 in gross receipts. That is 47% above the national average of $32,830.

In Hinds County (Jackson, Mississippi), one-person barber shops gross $16,319 a year, half the national average

Census 2024 counted 263 barber shops with no employees in Hinds County. Mississippi as a whole averages $19,116, the lowest of any state.

Sources: Census 2024 Nonemployer Statistics for barber shops (NAICS 812111) by county and state; the Census 2020 ZIP-to-county file; USDA rural-urban codes; state barber boards. The tool uses the receipts of barber shops with no employees because BLS publishes barber pay for few areas and leaves out the 80% of barbers who are self-employed. Receipts are gross, before rent, supplies and tax, and part-timers are included. The calculator applies the same local level to the price of a cut and the rent; that step is our assumption, because no agency publishes barber prices or rents by area. The lookup runs in your browser. It loads a small file for the first three digits of your ZIP code from this site and sends nothing else.

Barber pay by state

Arizona's one-person barber shops gross the most, Mississippi's the least

Both columns come from Census. The first counts barber shops with no employees in each state. The second is what they gross a year on average, before rent, supplies and tax. Census counts every tax return filed as a barber shop with no employees, part-time and side businesses included.

State	Barber shops with no employees (Census 2024)	Average gross a year per shop
United States	154,456	$32,830
Highest five
Arizona	3,331	$51,060
Colorado	1,695	$50,018
New Hampshire	486	$48,858
Alaska	152	$48,388
Washington	1,906	$45,988
Lowest five
Mississippi	2,329	$19,116
Louisiana	3,670	$21,864
Michigan	4,997	$22,938
Alabama	2,636	$24,037
Georgia	8,125	$24,542
Most one-person barber shops
California	18,036	$37,486
Texas	18,016	$30,466
Florida	16,492	$36,789
New York	10,143	$31,026
Illinois	6,641	$25,977
Ohio	4,580	$29,306

Census 2024 Nonemployer Statistics, barber shops with no paid employees (NAICS 812111). Receipts are gross, before rent, supplies and tax. Puerto Rico is left out. BLS publishes state medians for employed barbers in only 36 states; the figures for the largest states are in the questions below.

Barber commission or chair rent

The biggest pay decision: split every cut with the shop, or pay rent and keep the rest

Most of the gap between the three numbers at the top of this page comes from this choice. Barbers on a shop's payroll are in the BLS number. Chair and suite renters, and barbers working alone, are in the Census number. No agency counts how many barbers work each way, so these facts come from named shop owners and barbers.

Choose one

AOn commission (employee or split)

+The shop provides the chair, the supplies and the clients

+No rent is due in a slow week

+Some shops add hourly pay, as Alex Jaramillo's does

−50% is the most common split, says shop owner Alex Jaramillo

−Large chains pay about 40% commission at most, he says

BRenting a chair or suite

+You keep everything above the rent, says landlord Jay Majors

+Lifted Up Barber's Olympia suite: $933 a month, utilities and Wi-Fi included

+Self-employed barbers usually set their own schedules, says BLS

−Jay Majors charges $300 to $325 a week for one-person suites

−Rent is due in slow weeks too

−Supplies, card fees and self-employment tax are yours

The calculator below runs both.

Barber income calculator

Work out what you would take home before tax

Put in your own numbers to see a year two ways: on a 50/50 commission, or renting a suite. If you entered a ZIP code above, the price of a cut and the rent follow your county's level.

Average price of a cut$40$40 is an example. Lifted Up Barber charged $40 a cut.Cuts a day10Lifted Up Barber does about 12 on a full day.Days a week5Weeks worked a year48Take off holidays and slow weeks.Average tip15%An example. Use your own.

Cuts you do in a year$96,000
Your share$48,000
Tips+ $14,400

Before tax, a year$62,400about $1,200 a week

Example figures from the sources named, checked in October 2026. Tax is not taken off, and neither are supplies. The 3% card fee is close to a card processor's published US rate, 2.9% plus 30 cents a payment. Commission barbers usually pay no card fees or supplies. With a ZIP code entered, the price of a cut and the rent follow that county's level.

Do you tip barbers

Tips are the second most-asked barber pay topic, and barbers are on the IRS list of tipped jobs

Tips drew 418 phrasings on our chart, second only to what barbers charge, at 488. These are the federal rules as the IRS states them, not tax advice.

Barbers are on the IRS list of tipped occupations[7]

Entry 603 on the IRS list of occupations that customarily and regularly received tips is "Barbers, hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists." Its description names barbering services such as cutting hair and shaving.

Up to $25,000 of qualified tips can be deducted, for tax years 2025 through 2028[8]

Employees and the self-employed can both claim it. It phases out above $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income, or $300,000 for joint filers. For the self-employed it cannot exceed the net income of the business. Tips must be paid voluntarily.

Employees report cash tips of $20 or more a month to the shop[9]

An employee who receives cash tips of $20 or more in a calendar month reports them in writing to the employer by the 10th of the following month.

Chair renters report all income, tips included, on Schedule C[10]

The IRS treats a booth renter as an independent contractor running their own business. They report all income, including tips, on Schedule C, and may need to make estimated tax payments during the year.

Real barber income

What working barbers say they made, in their own words

These barbers published their own numbers on video. Every figure is theirs, unverified, and labeled by period, and gross or net, as they said it. Barbers mostly publish single days, so a day stays a day here.

$558

one day, 12 cuts at $40, gross; tips unclear

Lifted Up Barber

YouTube · about October 2025 · Olympia, Washington

Suite operatorMen's cuts

He called it a really good day. He had not been cutting in a shop for a year yet. His suite costs $933 a month, utilities and Wi-Fi included.

$610 to $650

by 4:16 p.m. on a Wednesday he called slow, three clients still to go, gross

Jos Cuts

YouTube · about 2024

Shop barber

He put a full day at $700 to $800. He charges $60 a haircut, $75 with a beard, and has been fully booked since 2018 or 2019. Pay split not stated.

$435

one Valentine's Day, nine cuts in about 4.5 hours, gross

aynjul

YouTube · about 2025

Cuts priced $45 to $55. Whether tips are included is unclear. He said his "thousand dollars a day" claims include his other businesses.

$6,867

his first month as a barber, straight out of barber school

Matthew Nava

YouTube · about 2025 · Brandon (state not stated)

Shop barber

He cuts 50 to 60 people a week, six to seven days a week, in a shop of 12 to 13 barbers. He did not say whether he is on commission or renting.

About $800

one Thursday in 2023, 10 to 7, with tips; $650 before tips

Jefe Cuts

YouTube · about spring 2023

Eight haircuts; he charges $80, or $70 without a beard, after 20 years of barbering. He called it a pretty good day. Clients come from New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Bucks County.

$150 to $200

his best day; his best week was about $400 to $500

Pico.Blurred

YouTube · about 2024

Part-time, home studio

About eight steady clients, $25 for a base fade. He works full time as a delivery contractor because barbering does not cover the bills, and is still finishing school for his license.

Shop owners and landlords put the split at 50% and a suite at about $300 a week

Alex Jaramillo, who has owned House of Shaves in Jacksonville, Florida since 2015, calls 50% the most common commission split and says large chains pay about 40% at most. Jay Majors, a former barber who now rents barber suites in Connecticut, charges $300 to $325 a week for a one-person suite and $500 to $525 for a two-person suite. As a landlord, he has a stake in suite rental.

How much do new barbers make

Barber training takes 900 to 3,200 hours in most large states, and one new barber made $6,867 in his first month

Apprentices and the first year drew 175 phrasings on our chart, and 156 more that name a place. No agency publishes apprentice or first-year barber pay, so these are the training rules states set and what new barbers published.

Barber school takes 900 to 1,500 hours in four of the five largest states[16][14][11][19][18]

Florida requires at least 900 hours, Texas and California 1,000, and Georgia 1,500 for a master barber license. New York sets no minimum number of school hours.

California and Georgia also license barbers through apprenticeships of 3,000 hours or more[12][13][20][17]

California's barber apprenticeship is 3,200 hours over two years, and the state had 2,125 barber apprentice licenses in May 2026. Georgia's master barber apprenticeship is 18 months and 3,000 hours. In New York, one route is two years as a registered barber apprentice.

Matthew Nava made $6,867 in his first month out of barber school[25]

He said he missed his goal of $100,000 in his first year. His full-year total appears only on screen in his video, so it is not given here. He cuts 50 to 60 people a week.

In his first year, Lifted Up Barber called a 12-cut, $558 day a really good one[21]

He had not been cutting in a shop for a year yet, and had just raised his price from $35 to $40 a cut. He runs his own suite in Olympia, Washington.

What people ask about barber pay

Each bar counts the distinct ways people phrase the question in Google's suggestions, from fixed starting points per row at the same depth for every row, so the numbers compare. Phrasings that name a place are counted separately.

about payaround the edgesthe control

What barbers charge

488

Tips

418

Apprentices and the first year

175

Commission

Per year

Chair rent

Mobile and house calls

Owning a shop

Is it worth it

Per day, week or cut

The top end

Per hour

By state or city

Domain and email

What barbers charge is the most-asked row, at 488 phrasings, and most of them come from customers

Most read as customers checking prices, such as what a barber charges for a beard trim or a lineup. Tips came second, at 418 phrasings.

People ask about apprentices and the first year more than about yearly pay: 175 phrasings against 86

Apprentices and the first year drew 175 phrasings. Pay per year drew 86, and pay per hour 26. The first-year section above covers training hours and what new barbers published.

766 phrasings name a place, most of them about prices, the first year and tips

We counted phrasings that name a state, city or country separately: 172 on what barbers charge, 156 on apprentices and the first year, 142 on tips and 126 on pay per year. Some name another country; this page covers the US.

Measured by us in October 2026, from Google's US suggestions.

Barber pay questions

Booking software for salons and barbersFor a barber renting a chair or suite: the booking side of the second road in the fork above.How much do hair stylists makeThe same data for stylists: 48% are self-employed, against 80% of barbers.

If you rent a chair or a suite, take bookings and deposits without a front desk.

The free plan takes your first 100 bookings without a credit card. It is a permanent plan, not a trial.

A booking page that works as the link in your Instagram bio
Each service with its own length and price: a cut, a fade, a beard line-up
A deposit at booking, or a card on file charged with the customer's permission, into your own Stripe account
Tap to Pay on iPhone, to take a card at the chair with no reader

Free to start. No credit card needed.

A barber with long braids and a canvas apron lining up a client's beard with a straight razor by a sunny window

An empty barbershop in morning light with a vintage leather barber chair facing a wooden mirror station and a barber pole outside the window

Cordless clippers, a trimmer, colored clipper guards, a fade brush and a comb on a folded towel on a wooden barber station

The kiwilaunch iPhone app showing today's bookings and payments

Services

Book now

Sources

Where every number on this page comes from, with the release or date we used.

Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Barbers (39-5011) and Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists (39-5012), national and state, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-05-15 Employees only; the self-employed are not surveyed. State figures from oesm25st.zip; BLS publishes a barber estimate for 36 states.
Occupational Outlook Handbook: Barbers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 75,800 barber jobs in 2025, 80% self-employed (48% of hairdressers); tips included in the wage data; licensing; self-employed schedules.
Nonemployer Statistics 2024: Barber Shops (NAICS 812111), national, state and county, U.S. Census Bureau, 2026-09-29 Gross receipts of businesses with no paid employees, before rent, supplies and tax. Each business tax return counts as one shop, part-time businesses included.
County Business Patterns 2023: Barber Shops (NAICS 812111), national, U.S. Census Bureau Barber shops with paid employees: 7,789 shops, 29,017 employees, $976.9 million annual payroll. Payroll covers part-timers and excludes tips not paid through payroll.
2020 ZCTA to County Relationship File, U.S. Census Bureau, 2021-12-09 Used by the ZIP tool to match a ZIP code to a county.
2020 Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes, ZIP code file, USDA Economic Research Service Used by the ZIP tool to label an area urban core, suburban, small city or rural.
Occupations that customarily and regularly received tips on or before Dec. 31, 2024, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-06-28 Entry 603: Barbers, hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists.
IRS Tax Tip 2026-06: How to take advantage of no tax on tips and overtime, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-01-26 The $25,000 cap, the phase-out above $150,000 ($300,000 joint) and the net-income limit for the self-employed. The 2025 through 2028 tax years are from IRS Topic 761.
Topic no. 761, Tips: withholding and reporting, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-10-12 The deduction for tax years 2025 through 2028, and employees' monthly tip reports to the employer.
Publication 4902, Tax Tips for the Cosmetology and Barber Industry, Internal Revenue Service February 2011 edition. Booth renters as independent contractors, reporting income including tips on Schedule C.
Barber license requirements, California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology A school course of at least 1,000 hours (Business and Professions Code 7362.5).
Board regulations, Article 3: apprenticeship, California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology The 3,200-hour apprenticeship over two years.
Board meeting materials, quarterly report, California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, 2026-05-18 License population: 44,474 barbers and 2,125 barber apprentices. License counts, not working barbers.
Apply for a Barber license, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation A Class A Barber course of 1,000 hours at a school licensed in Texas.
Barbering and Cosmetology at a Glance, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation 26,446 barbers in fiscal year 2025.
Florida Statutes 476.114 (2025), barber licensure, The Florida Senate At least 900 hours of training at a licensed barber school or an approved public program.
Become a Barber, New York Department of State The apprenticeship route: two years as a registered barber apprentice.
Appearance enhancement programs, New York State Education Department No state minimum or maximum of clock hours for barbering instruction.
Ga. Comp. R. and Regs. 240-14-.02, master barber school course, Georgia State Board of Barbers, via Cornell Law School LII At least nine months and 1,500 hours of training.
Ga. Comp. R. and Regs. Chapter 240-5, apprentices, Georgia State Board of Barbers Master barber apprenticeship: 18 months and 3,000 hours.
Lifted Up Barber, How Much Do Beginner Barbers Make In a Day in 2025, YouTube Upload date approximate, about October 2025. Olympia, Washington. One day, gross.
Lifted Up Barber, The Real Cost of Opening a Barber Suite, YouTube Upload date approximate, about August 2026. Suite rent $800 a month, $933 with utilities and Wi-Fi.
Jos Cuts, How Much Do Barbers Make? The Reality of Being a Barber, YouTube Filmed during Ramadan, about March or April 2024. Shop barber; pay split not stated.
aynjul, How much I make in a day as a barber (Valentine's Day), YouTube Upload date approximate, about 2025. One half-day; tips unclear.
Matthew Nava, How much does a 19-year-old barber make in his first year, YouTube Upload date approximate, about 2025. First month's figure; shop barber, pay model not stated.
Matthew Nava, How much I made as a 19-year-old barber in my first full year, YouTube Upload date approximate, about 2025. The yearly total is shown on screen only.
Jefe Cuts, The Truth About Barbering: How Much Can You Really Make?, YouTube Filmed about spring 2023. One day, with and without tips.
Pico.Blurred, How much can you make as a part-time barber?, YouTube Upload date approximate, about 2024. Part-time, home studio.
Jay Majors, Barbering to 50 Rents a Month, Earn Your Leisure, YouTube Upload date approximate, about November 2025. Connecticut landlord of barber suites: $300 to $325 a week for one person.
Alex Jaramillo, How Much Commission Should Barbershop Owners Pay Their Barbers?, YouTube, Alex Jaramillo and House of Shaves Barbershop Upload date approximate, about October 2025. Jacksonville, Florida shop owner. 50% the most common split; large chains about 40% at most.
Alex Jaramillo, The Truth About How Much Barbers Actually Make, YouTube, Alex Jaramillo and House of Shaves Barbershop Upload date approximate, about October 2024. Has seen barbers make over $100,000 a year and barely minimum wage.
Named barbers' own figures, Various the named barbers above
Stripe pricing, standard US card rate, Stripe, 2026-10-25 the card processor kiwilaunch uses; quoted for the 3% card fee in the calculator

Not tax, legal or financial advice. Prices, rent and what you keep vary by state and county, each state sets its own licensing rules, and the tax rules on tips have conditions. A tax professional who knows your situation can answer for you.