How Much Do Salon Owners Make in 2024

If you’re considering opening your own salon business, one of the top questions you have is probably “How much does a salon owner make?”. Different things can affect a salon owner’s income, and we’ll explore all of this and do our best to answer your questions.

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1. Is Owning a Salon Profitable?
2. What Does Salon Profitability Depend On?
3. How Do Salon Salon Owners Make Money?
4. How Can You Increase Salon Profitability?
5. How Much Do Salon Owners Make a Week?
6. How Much Do Salon Owners Make a Month
7. How Much Do Salon Owners Make a Year
8. Recommendations

Is Owning a Salon Profitable?

How much profit a salon owner makes can vary widely depending on a number of things, like the your salon’s physical location, the services provided, who your customer base is, and even the amount of retail sales you make.

Of course, there are ways that people in the salon industry can work to maximize profits and boost a hair salons earning potential, but we’ll go into these in more detail later on.

In general, hair salon owners can do well if they manage their business effectively, and owning salons is a great salon experience to earn income.

The market size of the beauty and hair salon industry in the U.S. grew from 58.5 billion dollars in 2020 to 69 billion in 2023, and hair salon owners in the U.S. have an average income of about $96,200 per year.

Of course, a salon owner’s salary is different than the income of the salon itself, because you need to think about expenses and how much profit your salon actually makes.

We also recommend you to check out our post on Buying A Salon.

What Does Salon Profitability Depend On?

As a salon owner, you’ll need to keep several factors in mind, including the basic services offered, like hair cutting, coloring, stylings, etc., supplies, styling tools, and other overhead costs like pay for your employees and rent. In short, many factors can affect a salon owner’s income and expenses.

A salon’s profit margin is the percentage of money that a business makes after you pay all of the salon expenses, whereas a business’s income is just the total amount of money coming in.

A salon business typically has a profit margin of about 8.2% , and salons and spas tend to have slightly higher profit margins than the national average for other small businesses, if they’re managed well.

While salons income can provide insights about how the business (and certain services) are doing, it’s the profit margin that you really want to pay attention to. Salons located in high-end urban areas may make more money on services, but they probably pay much higher rents than salons in a small town, for example.

As a salon owner, some of the most important factors that will impact your business’s profitability are the services offered (and what your charge for them), your business location (including the amount of foot traffic you get), retail product sales, and your operating expenses.

Let’s take a closer look at these.

Do not miss our post on How to Run a Commission Salon.

How Do Salon Salon Owners Make Money?

A salon owner makes money in a couple of different ways.

Employees and Services: Most salons pay their stylists a salary to provide services to customers, and the money from these customers forms the largest percentage of their income. You might be wondering “How much do hairdressers make?”. The average salary for a stylist is about $22.50/ hour plus tips in the U.S.

Renting Space: Instead of hiring stylists that you have to pay a salary, sometimes a salon owner will decide to rent space (salon suites or chairs) at their location to independent contractors, instead. In this case, you don’t have to worry about doing their taxes or payroll, but you have less influence over what they do and the hours they work.

Pro tip: A salon owner isn’t limited to one of these options, but can use a combination of both in their business model if they have extra space in their location.

Retail Sales: Offering retail products in a salon to clients is a great way to make additional income, and this is something that salon employees should be trained to do during each appointment.

How Can You Increase Salon Profitability?

Now, we come to the most important question. Maybe you’re thinking about getting into the hair salon business, and you’re hoping to earn an above average salon owner salary, or maybe you’re already running a successful salon, and you want to achieve higher revenue.

Here are some of our top tips that a salon owner can use to boost their business:

• Expand Your Service Menu: Offering more services to clients can be a great way to boost revenue.

  There are a couple of different factors to consider here- if you already offer a lot of services, you might want to offer some optional add-ons to high end services, like scalp treatments, massages, or deep conditioning.

  Alternatively, you can branch out into services that are in demand in your area, like hair extensions or braiding. It’s a good idea to see what other salons are offering, and whether there are any local needs that aren’t being filled.

• Increase Client Visits: Use loyalty programs to turn new customers into loyal clients, and create rewards to encourage people to keep coming back. Repeat visits can help increase both a salon owner salary and boost the reputation of your stylists, too.

• Reduce Expenses: You can do this by cross-training your staff to do multiple jobs (like assisting with reception or admin tasks when they’re not busy), creating a list of tidying or salon upkeep items that should be done during downtime, keeping a closer eye on your inventory to reduce waste, getting an online booking system to make things easier for clients and staff, and optimizing your schedule to avoid overstaffing. Salon software can help with all of this.

• Marketing: Good advertising is one of the most important factors when it comes to expanding your business and improving your salon owner salary. Using an online marketplace or booking directory is an easy way to reach more clients in your area. Many of them will even highlight a salon’s special offers and encourage clients to book with new salons.

Of course, it’s also a good idea to have an up-to-date salon website and social media pages, and to post on these regularly. You can even encourage existing clients to share your pages with their friends.

Use Salon Software

Optimizing your business is key if you want to increase profit margins and boost your salon owner salary. Good quality salon software will make a huge difference for you, your staff, and your clients.

You can use salon software like Zolmi to increase your staff’s availability and reduce scheduling gaps in your calendar. You’ll also be able to send customers automatic SMS reminders to reduce no-shows and cancellations. Clients can book their own appointments at any time using the online platform, which is convenient for them and frees your staff up to do other things.

Finally, you’ll be able to see client reviews and respond to feedback before it’s posted, helping you to take charge of your salon business’s marketing.

Do not miss our post on how much does a hairdresser make.

How Much Do Salon Owners Make a Week?

Remember that a lot of factors can affect the average salary of a salon owner, since they make more money when their business does well, and they might not make as much when things are slower.

On average, a salon owner in the central United States makes about $2,461 a week, but this can vary a lot depending on your location, the size of your salon, and even the time of year.

When it comes to location, salon owners in Washington, Colorado and Delaware earn the most, bringing in about $2,645- $2837 a week, which is considerably higher than the national average.

Pro Tip: Remember, it’s important to save some money and set aside enough to cover your salon’s expenses for at least three months, since your weekly income can vary a lot.

How Much Do Salon Owners Make a Month

If the average salary for a salon owner is about $2,416 a week, then you can expect to earn about $10,664 a month.

Remember that larger salons will usually bring in more money than smaller ones, especially if they also get more foot traffic. At the same time, larger salon locations in high-traffic areas usually mean that you’ll pay more in rent or property taxes. The average annual salary for a salon owner in New York, for example, is $134,269, but rent will also be higher.

Of course, some months are going to be busier than others, and you should prepare for these by using salon scheduling software to make sure that you’re not spending too much or too little on staff.

Learn more about the responsibilities of a salon owner in the article on How to Become a Salon Manager.

How Much Do Salon Owners Make a Year

We’ve seen what the average salary of a salon owner looks like on a weekly and monthly basis, and can translate to almost $130,000 a year, if you run a very successful salon. Again, this depends on your salon’s location, the services you provide, and what your expenses are. A great example of this is Florida, where owners of smaller salons in rural areas might bring in closer to $90,987 in a good year.

Keep in mind that every salon business is different, and your actual salary will depend a lot on your own situation and your ability to manage your business effectively.

Recommendations

Owning a salon can be both profitable and rewarding, and many people enjoy running their own business because of the independence it gives them, as well as the opportunities to collaborate with other stylists, local business owners, and beauty professionals in the salon industry.

So, is owning a salon profitable? The answer is that it can be if you do the research, make sure that you’re prepared, and have the right tools to help you stay organized and run your salon business.

Citations

The theory and measurement of business income
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2clUy5

Revenue management: A strategy for increasing sales revenue in small businesses
http://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/50

Basic income as a basis for small business
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/026624268