BLS OEWS May 2025 · SOC 39-5091
How much do makeup artists make?
The highest paying beauty occupation in the federal data, and the one with the widest spread between the bottom and the top.
- Median pay$97,150a year
- Median hourly$46.71an hour
- Mean pay$102,240a year
- Employed2,340nationally
Read the title carefully before you read the number. This code covers THEATRICAL AND PERFORMANCE makeup artists, which means film, television and stage work on a payroll. A freelance bridal or editorial artist is almost never counted here, which is why total employment is only 2,340 people nationally.
What makeup artists earn, from the bottom tenth to the top
A single median hides the range, and in this trade the range is the useful part. These four figures are the published percentiles for occupation code 39-5091, not a calculation done here.
| Measure | Annual | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $23,360 | the bottom tenth earn less than this |
| Median | $97,150 | half earn more, half earn less |
| Mean | $102,240 | the average, pulled up by the top |
| 90th percentile | $167,470 | the top tenth earn more than this |
Hourly equivalents: $46.71 median, $49.16 mean
Where makeup artists are paid most, and where there are most of them
Five highest paying states
| State | Mean annual |
|---|---|
| Georgia | $140,560 |
| California | $138,420 |
| New York | $120,580 |
| Louisiana | $113,830 |
| Florida | $101,330 |
Five largest employing states
| State | Employed |
|---|---|
| California | 830 |
| Florida | 250 |
| Georgia | 200 |
| New York | 190 |
| District of Columbia | 60 |
The two lists rarely overlap, and that is the point of showing both. A high mean wage usually tracks cost of living, while a high headcount tracks population. Neither on its own tells you where the work is.
Where these numbers came from
Public domain US federal statistics, fetched by hand and baked into this site rather than called at build time. If you quote a figure from this page, cite the agency rather than this site, and use the wording below.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national cross industry estimates, occupation 39-5091 Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance. Accessed 2026-08-01.
National, cross-industry estimates for wage and salary workers. Self-employed workers, owner-operators and chair or booth renters are not in scope.
bls.gov/oes and the published series files at download.bls.gov
How many of these businesses there are
Marketing the trade
All the numbers
Common questions
- How much do makeup artists make?
- The median wage for makeup artists in the United States is $97,150 a year, or $46.71 an hour. The mean is $102,240. The bottom tenth earn under $23,360 and the top tenth earn over $167,470. Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation code 39-5091.
- Does this include self-employed workers?
- No, and that matters more in this trade than the number does. OEWS covers wage and salary workers only. Self-employed workers, owner-operators, chair renters and single-van businesses are outside the survey entirely, so this is what an employed person in this job is paid, not what everyone doing this work earns.
- Which state pays the most?
- Georgia, at a mean of $140,560 a year, followed by California at $138,420. The five highest paying and five largest employing states are listed above, and a high mean usually reflects cost of living as much as opportunity.
- How current is this figure?
- It is the May 2025 release, which is the most recent Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data published by BLS. It was fetched and baked into this site on 1 August 2026. This page makes no live API call, so what you see is what was checked on that date.
Numbers persuade nobody. The pair does.
Every trade on this page sells the same way: a photograph of the problem beside a photograph of the result. Take the two, and Before and After Video Maker turns them into a 1080p video, a looping GIF or a still.