Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists job market in Louisiana
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in Louisiana.
Occupation pay
What Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists earn in Louisiana
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$26,030Louisiana- Middle 50% of published wages
- $23,060 – $29,530
- U.S. median annual wage
- $35,790
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Louisiana
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists, compared with the Louisiana median of $26,030.
New Orleans-Metairie, LA$26,470+1.7% vs. state
Baton Rouge, LA$26,300+1.0% vs. state
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA$26,080+0.2% vs. state
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA$24,170−7.1% vs. state
Lake Charles, LA$23,840−8.4% vs. state
Lafayette, LA$23,700−9.0% vs. state
View 3 more published metro areas
Alexandria, LA$23,580−9.4% vs. state
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA$23,550−9.5% vs. state
Monroe, LA$23,260−10.6% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Louisiana median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in Louisiana’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 10,096 represented establishments, 87.76% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in Louisiana
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.
This occupation is less concentrated in the state
Louisiana's share of employment in hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists differs from the national share in OEWS May 2025. The published location quotient of 0.71 expresses the state share as 0.71 times the national share. The state estimate is 2,720 jobs, 0.9% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 1.41 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. The ratio describes employment concentration, not current hiring or future growth.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSOEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.
Published median pay is below the U.S. median
Median annual pay in Louisiana stands 27.3% below the U.S. estimate for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists. The underlying OEWS May 2025 figures are $26,030 for the state and $35,790 nationally. This is a nominal wage comparison; living costs and individual pay differences are outside its scope.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSPrivate education and health services has the largest positive weighted contribution
Private education and health services supplies 78.8% of the positive weighted contributions to this occupation's industry employment-growth proxy in Louisiana in January to March 2026. Its own year-over-year employment change was +0.8%. Each leading industry group is weighted by its share of the occupation's national industry mix, and the groups examined cover 88.9% of that mix. These contributions do not count occupation jobs created.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWIndustry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
Louisiana industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- Louisiana · 2026 Q1-0.3%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-0.2%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Louisiana | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +1.6% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +2.9% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +1.6% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +1.8% | 99.45% |
| 2025 Q2 | +2.0% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | +0.4% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | -0.2% | 99.48% |
| 2026 Q1 | -0.3% | 89.26% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Louisiana’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- -0.2%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists Work
The occupation mix determines which Louisiana industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other services | 87.5% | -0.3% | 10,096 | $991 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 10.2% | Not published | 33,633 | $1,123 |
| Private education and health services | 0.5% | +0.8% | 21,019 | $1,126 |
| Information | 0.5% | Not published | 2,953 | $1,743 |
| Leisure and hospitality | 0.5% | +0.2% | 15,561 | $538 |
| Professional and business services | 0.4% | -2.1% | 34,035 | $1,537 |
Which industries are growing?
2 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Louisiana employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+0.8%
- Leisure and hospitality+0.2%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current Louisiana context
Current Louisiana Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Louisiana. They are not Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Louisiana
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 117.10 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 116.47 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 116.61 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 116.32 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 116.63 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 117.00 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 116.46 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 116.81 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 116.61 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 117.53 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 117.89 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 118.30 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 118.18 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 119.58 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Statewide layoff notices
Statewide layoff-notice filings
Louisiana statewide5 notices in this source
Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.
What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in Louisiana’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.
Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. Louisiana’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.
Louisiana Workforce Commission / Louisiana Works About WARN data
Source last checked
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in Louisiana FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in Louisiana?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Louisiana industries weighted to Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists changed -0.3% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -0.2% nationwide.
Are wages for Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists rising in Louisiana?
QCEW does not publish pay for Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +4.8% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Louisiana industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 89.26% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 89.26% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists
- SOC code
- 39-5012
- State
- Louisiana
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- -0.3%State data coverage 89.26%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -0.2%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- -0.1 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +1.3%State data coverage 89.26%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +4.8%State data coverage 99.45%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/hairdressers-hairstylists-and-cosmetologists/louisiana#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.