Manicures, pedicures and nail art. A few hundred hours of school, a state license, then you build a client list.
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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 $35,760 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $28,920 at the lower end to about $50,140 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 1 year after high school, on the usual route.
$2,400 to $7,600 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a license or registration before you can work.
Very high demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$35,760
Bottom tenth
$28,920
Top tenth
$50,140
These are the federal survey figures for manicurists and pedicurists. The national median is $35,760 a year, the bottom tenth earn $28,920 or less and the top tenth $50,140 or more. Those figures include tips where employers report them, and tips are a real part of the money in this job.
Commission, a share of each service
Your cut of what each service is billed at, plus tips
The salon's share pays for the space, the products, the booking system and the walk-in customers. Early on that trade is worth it, because without a client list you have nothing to rent a chair with.
A weekly or monthly rent
Booth rental, where you keep everything you charge
You pay the rent whether or not anyone books, you buy your own products and insurance, and you file your own taxes. Only worth it once your regulars fill most of your week.
Roughly, all in
$2,400 to $7,600
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Every state licenses this work, so there is no way in at no cost. The low end is a $2,000 nail school course, the state written and practical exams, which are $15 each in New York, a $40 license application and a basic kit. The high end is a $6,000 course and a fuller kit of files, lamps, drills, gels and polish at up to $1,500. Federal aid depends on the course: a regular Pell Grant needs a longer program than many nail courses, so ask the school whether its course qualifies before you count on it.
File the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and ask the school whether its course qualifies for federal aid. A regular Pell Grant, which does not have to be paid back, needs a longer program than many nail courses, so plenty of students pay for this one themselves.
Tips
A meaningful share of take-home pay.
Flexible scheduling
Part-time and split shifts are normal, which suits parents and students.
Product discounts
Trade pricing through the salon's suppliers.
Rarely benefits
Commission staff sometimes get them at a chain. Booth renters are self-employed and get none.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Short and cheap by any standard, and every state runs its own version of it.
High school
Grade 12
Finish it. Each state sets its own minimum age and schooling rules. New York, for example, licenses you from age 17.
Nail school
2 to 6 months
A state approved course. New York requires 250 hours; other states set their own number and some are considerably higher.
Pass the state exams
One day each
A written exam on sanitation, anatomy and state law, plus a practical exam where you perform services on a hand model.
Get licensed and hired
Weeks
Apply to your state board, then start on commission at a salon that has walk-in traffic.
Build a book, then rent a station
2 to 5 years
Once your regulars fill your week, booth rental or your own small salon is the usual next step.
Art
Nail art is drawing on a very small curved surface.
Biology
Skin, nails and infection control are on the written exam for good reason.
Chemistry
Acrylics, gels and solvents are chemicals you handle every day.
Business
Almost everyone in this trade ends up self-employed.
Every state licenses this work, and the rules are set state by state, not nationally. New York calls it a nail specialty license and requires a 250 hour approved course plus written and practical exams. California licenses manicurists through its Board of Barbering and Cosmetology and sets a written exam of 60 scored questions in 90 minutes, with no practical exam. The exams many states use are written by the NIC (National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology), which makes moving between states easier but never automatic: you apply to the new board, and it decides whether your hours and exam transfer.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Nail art
Hand painting, chrome, encapsulation. The service clients photograph and share.
Hard gel and acrylic extensions
Longer appointments, and they bring clients back on a fixed cycle.
Full cosmetology license
More hours of school, but it lets you do hair and skin as well and widens where you can work.
Medical or advanced pedicure training
Working alongside podiatrists with diabetic and older clients, a careful niche.
Photography and social media
In this trade your portfolio is an account full of photographs, and it is how new clients find you.
A second language
Useful in a lot of salons, both with clients and with colleagues.
Steady hands and good eyes
The work is millimeters wide and hours long.
Conversation
Clients rebook with the person they enjoyed sitting with for an hour.
Two ways around salon rent. A mobile technician travels to clients and carries the kit in a bag, which suits weddings, care homes and people who cannot easily get out. A home studio cuts overhead almost to nothing. Both depend on your state and your local rules: some states license the premises as well as the person, and a home salon may need a separate establishment license and an inspection. Check with your state board before you set one up, not after.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Open at 10, set up the station, disinfect everything. First client is a gel fill, 50 minutes. Then a pedicure, then a walk-in who wants art on two fingers and is in a hurry. You are bent over a hand most of the day with a lamp on it, talking the whole time. Sanitize between every client, because that is what the inspector checks. Saturday is the busiest day of the week and December is the busiest month of the year.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Federal projections give manicurists and pedicurists a Bright Outlook: employment is expected to grow much faster than average, with about 21,900 openings a year from 2025 to 2035.
Besides the 250 hour school route, New York has a trainee route: work one year as a licensed nail trainee, finish a 27 hour course, then pass the same written and practical exams.
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) lists toluene, formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate and methacrylate compounds among the chemicals in nail products, and links exposure to breathing problems, asthma and skin disorders. Good salons run exhaust at each station for that reason.
California's board sends inspectors into salons to check licenses, sanitation and equipment, and a citation can go to the salon or to the individual technician. That is why tools are disinfected between every client.
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 United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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