Beautician Salaries in Montana

If your talents involve working with people and making them look their best, Montana provides opportunities for you to become a barber, cosmetologist, esthetician, nail technician, or makeup artist. In addition to Montana’s residents, you can serve the tourists that are drawn to see the state’s natural beauty.

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These rewarding careers allow you to develop strong relationships with your clients over time as you improve their appearance on a regular basis. Montana’s salons and spas offer the option for you to work for a salary or for yourself. You can start by renting a booth or chair and move up to opening your own salon.

Although this guide provides the average salary of Montana’s salon professionals, you can expect to make more than what is reported here. Your customers will tip you when they are pleased with your service, and tips are not factored into Montana’s salary and hourly statistics.

Salaries for Montana’s Barbers

Being a barber lets you give top-quality shaves and haircuts to make the men of Montana look their best. The job site Indeed.com analyzes the starting salaries for licensed barbers over the previous year and provides an average for them.

As of January 2015, the average starting salary for a licensed barber in Montana was $34,000. Barbers in Missoula made more than this and averaged $36,000. As you gain experience, your clients will pay you more for your services, and you will earn more than the average salary. The average salaries will be higher than indicated here, because your clients will generally tip you 10 to 25%.

Cosmetology Salaries in Montana

If you specialize in cutting and styling women’s hair, you can join the ranks of the largest salon profession in Montana. In 2013, 710 people worked as cosmetologists such as hairdressers and hair stylists in Montana according to the state’s Department of Labor and Industry.

While the average salary for a cosmetologist in Montana was $27,480 in 2013, salaries varied throughout the state and were particularly high in these cities:

  • Billings $30,490
  • Great Falls $29,050

Your salary will vary depending on your level of experience, since you will be able to charge more as you get better at pleasing your clients. If you make the average salary, your take home pay should be much higher than indicated here, since your customers will generally tip 10 to 25% for your high quality service.

Average Nail Technician Salary in Montana

When you specialize in providing manicures and pedicures in Montana, you will be joining a growing profession. The number of manicurists in the state is expected to increase 12.5% through 2022 according to the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.

This agency reported that the average manicurist in Montana earned $22,540 a year. Once you gain experience and get highly skilled at providing nail treatments, you can expect to earn considerably more than this. Your level of take home pay will be higher than shown here, because this figure does not include the tips that you will get for providing great service.

Esthetician Salaries in Montana

Getting a skin care specialty license in Montana will let you have a rewarding career in providing skin treatments to make women and men feel and look their best. The 120 estheticians that worked in Montana in 2013 made an average salary of $32,780 according to the state’s Department of Labor and Industry.

The average salary was even higher in Billings. Montana’s estheticians who worked there earned an average of $40,070 a year.

Your level of take home pay will be even higher than this because your grateful customers will generally tip you at least 15%. As you gain more experience and get even better at treating your clients’ skin, you can expect to earn a higher salary.

Average Montana Makeup Artist Salary

If you are gifted at skillfully applying makeup to improve women’s appearance, getting formal training in this field will let you practice your craft in Montana. You have a number of options for work ranging from selling makeup in stores to transforming actors to fit a particular era.

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Although your salary as a makeup artist will vary a great deal depending on your specialty, the average starting salary for a makeup artist in Montana for the year leading up to January 2015 was $34,000 a year. This figure is available from the job site Indeed.com that analyzes salaries over the course of the previous year.

Once you gain experience at a type of makeup artistry, you will be able to charge higher fees. You can specialize in discretely training women who do not know how to use makeup, or you can practice your craft on performing artists.

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