As a salon professional in Iowa, you can choose from a range of professions depending on whether you want to specialize in facials, style hair, beatify nails or provide barbering services. This industry lets you express your ability to make people look great and offers you the chance to develop close friendships with your clients as they come back to you time and time again.
You can start your career as an hourly, commissioned or salaried employee and over time even become a salon owner! While this guide offers an estimation of the salaries you can expect to make, you will be able to make even more money, because your clients will tip you to show their gratitude for your service. These types of official salary figures do not generally include tips.
Iowa Salaries for Manicurists
If your love of beauty lies with providing striking nail treatments, Iowa is a great place to express yourself. It had the second highest salaries for manicurists in the country in 2013 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Des Moines is a particularly good city to work in, since it had the eighth highest salaries for nail technicians of any metropolitan area in the country that year.
The average salary for a manicurist just starting out in Iowa was $17,389 in 2013 according to Iowa Workforce Development. As you gain experience and are better able to gauge what your clients are looking for, you will earn a higher salary.
Experienced manicurists in Iowa averaged $38,771 that year—$8441 higher than the national average for manicurists with so much experience. The average salary for nail technicians overall in the state was $29,500. This was 35% higher than the average national salary for these professionals.
In addition to earning a high salary, you will make additional money from the tips you will get after you do a great job with your clients’ nails. These official salary figures do not include tips.
Range of Barber Salaries in Iowa
When your goal of improving people’s appearance lies with giving great shaves or haircuts to men, being a barber or tonsorial artist in Iowa offers you the chance to start out with a salary that is higher than that for beauticians. The average entry-level salary for a barber in Iowa was $22,755 in 2013 according to data from Iowa Workforce Development.
Barbers overall in Iowa earned an average of $27,660 a year. Davenport has exceptionally high salaries for barbers and had the ninth highest salaries of any city in the country according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Your salary will increase to even higher levels once you have gained the experience to better estimate exactly how your clients want to look. Iowa’s Workforce Development indicated that barbers in the state who were highly experienced earned an average of $30,534 a year.
You will be able to take home even more money since these figures suggest, because they do not factor in the practice of tipping. Your clients will generally tip you at least 10% for improving their appearance.
Makeup Artist Salaries in Iowa
If your artistry tends towards the skillful application of makeup, you can get the training to become a makeup artist in Iowa. You have a number of options for a career in this field. You can choose to discretely help women improve their appearance by training them in using makeup. As you gain experience, you can work with actors and actresses to make them perfect for their roles.
Your salary will vary depending on your specialty, but a good gauge of what you will start out with is provided by Indeed.com. This job site analyzes the salaries for advertised makeup artist position and produces an average for the job postings from the previous year.
As of January 2015, the average starting salary for a makeup artist in Iowa was $40,000. The average in Cedar Rapids was slightly lower at $38,000 a year.
Iowa Cosmetology Salaries
When your artistic style leads you to master the art of styling and cutting women’s hair, you can join the ranks of Iowa’s hairdressers and hairstylists. More than 4,000 such cosmetologists practiced in the state in 2013 according to Iowa Workforce Development.
The average salary for a beginning hairdresser in Iowa was $16,494. As you gain experience and are better able to understand what your clients expect, you will be able to charge higher rates. The average salary for a highly experienced hair stylist in Iowa was $22,090 higher than those just starting out and was $38,584.
Cosmetologists in Iowa earned $25,950 on average. Even if you make the average salary in the state, you can expect to take home more money than that, because your clients will tip you after you have made them look pretty. You can expect tips of 10 to 25% that are not included in these values.