Draw on skin for a living. No licence, a long unpaid apprenticeship, and income that depends on your art and your following.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $42,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $31,000 at the lower end to about $62,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 3 years after high school, on the usual route.
$1,600 to $29,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Limited demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$42,000
Lower end
$31,000
Upper end
$62,000
Job Bank's national median is $20 an hour, about $42,000 a year at 40 hours a week, with a low of $15 and a high of $30. Job Bank pools tattoo artists with estheticians in one occupation code, so treat these as rough. Most artists are self-employed and keep a share of each tattoo, and there is no official figure for that income.
Usually unpaid
One to three years learning under an artist
Traditional tattoo apprenticeships are unpaid. You clean, set up stations, draw and watch. Many apprentices keep a second job. Some studios charge for the apprenticeship; be careful with those.
$22.15 an hour
The median in British Columbia, the highest in Canada
British Columbia's upper end reaches $43.96 an hour. Alberta's median is $21.63, Ontario's $19.00, and Manitoba's is the lowest at $16.40. These figures pool tattoo artists with estheticians, and most artists are paid a share of each tattoo instead of a wage.
Roughly, all in
$1,600 to $29,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Good studios do not charge for an apprenticeship, but they are unpaid for one to three years, and that lost income is the real cost of this career rather than anything in these figures. The low end is a starter set of machines, a power supply, needles and inks plus bloodborne pathogen and first aid training. The high end adds an art school diploma, which nobody requires but which builds the drawing skill, plus a fuller kit. There is no trade certificate for tattooing, so apprenticeship loans and grants do not apply.
There is no trade certificate, so no apprenticeship loans or grants apply. The real cost is years of low income while you learn.
Your own schedule
Most artists book their own clients.
Conventions and guest spots
Travel and tattoo in other cities and countries.
Your art on people for life
Not every job offers that.
Health and dental
Almost never. You are self-employed.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
There is no school that makes you a tattoo artist. You draw until an artist takes you on.
Draw, constantly
Years
A portfolio of 50 to 100 finished drawings in tattoo-friendly styles. Art classes in high school or college help, but the sketchbook is what studios look at.
Find an apprenticeship
Months to years
Walk into studios with your portfolio. Expect many no's. Good apprenticeships charge nothing and are strict; be wary of ones that charge thousands.
Apprentice
1 to 3 years
Cleaning, sterilization, setting up stations, drawing designs, then practising on fake skin and finally on volunteers under supervision. Unpaid.
Health and safety training
Days
Bloodborne pathogen certificate and first aid. Public health inspects studios for sterilization, single-use needles and records.
Working artist
Ongoing
Your own chair, your own clients, a share of each tattoo. Building a following takes years more.
Visual arts
Drawing, line, shading, composition. The whole job.
Biology
Skin, healing, infection.
Business
You will be self-employed.
Digital art or media
Most designs are drawn on a tablet now.
No province licenses tattoo artists as a trade. Instead, tattoo studios are personal service settings under provincial public health law. Local health units inspect them for sterilization, single-use needles, hand washing and record keeping, and can close a studio. Toronto posts results online through BodySafe with a pass, conditional pass or closed rating. Most cities also require a business licence for the studio.
Tattooing is not one of Quebec's 46 professional orders, so the route is the same studio apprenticeship as elsewhere, with a Quebec health ministry guide setting out the hygiene basics.
Finish Secondary V and draw
Secondary V
No Quebec diploma is set for tattooing. Job Bank lists high school or on-the-job training as the usual start. Art classes help, but the sketchbook is what studios look at.
Find a studio apprenticeship
Months to years
Bring a portfolio to studios and expect many no's. Good apprenticeships charge nothing and are strict.
Learn hygiene the Quebec way
Before your first client
The health ministry's guide for tattooers, in French and English, covers how to protect your clients and yourself from HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and hepatitis B and C, and what to do after accidental contact with blood.
Apprentice
1 to 3 years
Clean, set up stations, draw designs, then tattoo practice skin and finally volunteers under supervision.
Your own studio
When you open
If your studio name does not include your own first and last name, register it with the Registraire des entreprises (the Quebec business registry).
Things you don't need, but that help.
A recognizable style
Fine line, realism, traditional, blackwork. Clients travel for a specific artist.
A large social following
Instagram is the booking engine for most artists.
Conventions and guest spots
New cities, new clients.
Large-scale work
Sleeves and back pieces booked over many sessions.
Cover-ups and scar work
Hard work, and in demand.
Art school or illustration courses
Not required, but many top artists trained formally.
A tablet and drawing software
Designs and stencils are digital.
Savings
To get through an unpaid apprenticeship.
Steady hands and patience
Sessions run for hours.
Many artists open a studio after 5 to 10 years. A few chairs, sterilization equipment, a business licence and a public health inspection. Owners earn a cut from every artist in the shop, and take on rent, walk-in management and the paperwork.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Morning: finish tonight's design on the tablet, print stencils, answer booking messages. Midday: set up the station, gloves, wrap everything, first client for a three-hour session. Break down, disinfect, set up again. Second client into the evening. Walk-ins on weekends. Hunched over skin for hours with a buzzing machine, then home to draw tomorrow's piece.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Job Bank rates 3-year job prospects in this group good only in Nova Scotia. They are limited in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba.
Quebec's health ministry notes that only a few cases of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) or hepatitis B and C passed on by tattooing have been reported worldwide, and that good hygiene cuts the risk further.
Statistics Canada groups tattoo artists with estheticians, electrologists and nail technicians in one occupation code: about 71,300 workers in 2023, by Job Bank's count. There is no separate count of how many people tattoo for a living in Canada.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Personal, food and outdoor trades first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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