Salary of a Beauty School Teacher

Beauty salons depend on beauty school teachers to properly train cosmetology students in anatomy and physiology, sanitation, cutting hair and doing perms. These teachers order equipment, textbooks and supplies, create lesson plans, demonstrate shampooing, hair-styling and cutting techniques, and track students' progress until they graduate. If you can picture yourself teaching young women and men how to cut and style hair in a busy and chemically pungent environment, the job of beauty school teacher may be perfect for you. You can expect to earn a salary averaging slightly above $50,000 annually.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics includes beauty school teachers under education teachers, postsecondary. In 2012, postsecondary education teachers at technical and trade schools earned average annual salaries of $39,110, according to the BLS. But the BLS includes data for many other teaching careers under technical and trade schools, such as electronics, automotive and welding instructors. Your average salary as a beauty school teacher would be $51,000 as of 2013, according to the job website Simply Hired.

Qualifications for beauty school teachers vary by state. If you want to become one of these instructors, you'll need to be a licensed cosmetologist, which usually takes at least nine months, according to the BLS. A high school degree is usually sufficient to attend cosmetology school. You'll also need at least two to five years' experience as a cosmetologist and a cosmetology instructor's license. The instructor's license can take another year or two to earn, depending on the state in which you live. Other essential qualifications include physical stamina, creativity and organizational, communication, customer service, decision-making and time-management skills.

In 2013, average annual salaries for beauty school teachers varied significantly within certain U.S. regions. In the Midwest region, they earned the highest salaries of $55,000 in Minnesota and the lowest of $40,000 in South Dakota, according to Simply Hired. Those in the Northeast earned $46,000 to $62,000 per year, respectively, in Maine and Massachusetts. If you lived in the South, you'd earn the most in Washington, D.C., and the least in Mississippi -- $81,000 or $40,000, respectively. In the West, your salary would be $40,000 in Montana or $58,000 in Alaska or California, which were the lowest and highest salaries in that region.

The BLS reports that job opportunities for postsecondary teachers will grow by 17 percent in the next decade, slightly above average compared to all occupations. Jobs for cosmetologists should increase by 16 percent, which should lift demand for beauty school teachers. Enrollment in beauty schools has also grown at a steady pace of 4 percent in recent years, according to market research company IBISWorld. These schools will need qualified instructors to teach cosmetology students.

Postsecondary teachers earned a median annual salary of $78,470 in May 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the low end, postsecondary teachers earned a 10th percentile salary of $54,710, meaning 90 percent earned more than this amount. The 90th percentile salary is $114,710, meaning 10 percent earn more. In 2018, 1,350,700 people were employed in the U.S. as postsecondary teachers.