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These Are The 10 Best Cities For Stylists

By Chris Kolmar
Dec. 18, 2016

Find a Job You Really Want In

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Whether you’re just starting out your career, or looking to make a move, it can be important to know what part of the country offers the best chance for your long term career prospects. And for a very common profession like Stylists, the regional differences can have a big impact on your salary and career options.

To help you make the best decision possible, we at Zippia wanted to look at the cities that offer stylists the most for their career. These are the cities across the US where stylists get paid well, relative to the cost of living, and jobs are plentiful.

So we did what we do best and dove into the numbers from the BLS to figure out which cities have the best opportunities for stylists.The result is this list of the best cities stylists:

  1. Springfield, IL
  2. Tacoma, WA
  3. Ocean City, NJ
  4. Longview, WA
  5. Walla Walla, WA
  6. Weirton, WV
  7. Rapid City, SD
  8. The Villages, FL
  9. Cleveland, OH
  10. Corvallis, OR

So there you have it — Springfield is the best city when it comes to being a stylist.

And where should you consider avoiding if you’re a stylist? That would be Hickory.

Read on to see how we completed our research on the best cities for stylists and for more on the top ten cities.

How we determined the best cities to be a stylists?




Here at Zippia, we talk to a lot of people of all different backgrounds looking for jobs. Our research has concluded that there are two common things people want in a job:

  • Availability of jobs
  • Pay

So in order to find out the best cities for stylists in America we needed to figure out where the jobs are and how well stylists get paid. This led to the following criteria taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Occupational Employment Statistics for 2015:

  • Location quotient. A measure of how common a job is a given city.
  • Average annual salary.
  • Average annual salary for entry level work.

To make all the salary numbers more apples to apples across cities, we compared the salary data relative to the state’s cost of living.

This left us with enough data for 373 metro areas across the country. We then took the primary area of the metro and labeled that the ‘city’ for this analysis. So, for example, “Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA NECTA Division” became simply Boston.

In order to develop an overall ranking, we ranked each city for each criteria from 1 to 373 where 1 was the best.

We then averaged all the rankings for a city into a Job Score with the city having the lowest overall Job Score earning the distinction of being the best city for stylists in America.

So without further ado, let’s get into just what made each city so great for stylists.

1. Springfield, IL

Total Jobs: 550
Average Annual Salary: $40,600
Average Entry Level Salary: $21,190
Location Quotient: 2.03

2. Tacoma, WA

Total Jobs: 1,260
Average Annual Salary: $37,830
Average Entry Level Salary: $22,190
Location Quotient: 1.8

3. Ocean City, NJ

Total Jobs: 240
Average Annual Salary: $35,850
Average Entry Level Salary: $21,060
Location Quotient: 2.39

4. Longview, WA

Total Jobs: 140
Average Annual Salary: $33,560
Average Entry Level Salary: $21,320
Location Quotient: 1.54

5. Walla Walla, WA

Total Jobs: 90
Average Annual Salary: $32,060
Average Entry Level Salary: $24,290
Location Quotient: 1.42

6. Weirton, WV

Total Jobs: 170
Average Annual Salary: $27,680
Average Entry Level Salary: $17,330
Location Quotient: 1.67

7. Rapid City, SD

Total Jobs: 220
Average Annual Salary: $29,730
Average Entry Level Salary: $18,940
Location Quotient: 1.37

8. The Villages, FL

Total Jobs: 150
Average Annual Salary: $30,370
Average Entry Level Salary: $20,300
Location Quotient: 2.42

9. Cleveland, OH

Total Jobs: 3,830
Average Annual Salary: $29,060
Average Entry Level Salary: $18,080
Location Quotient: 1.49

10. Corvallis, OR

Total Jobs: 160
Average Annual Salary: $31,090
Average Entry Level Salary: $19,520
Location Quotient: 1.82

And that’s our list of the best cities for stylists

If you’re looking to start out your career as a stylist these are the cities that should be at the top of your list. You’ll find high pay, available jobs, and chances for career advancement.

If you’re curious, here are the worst cities to be a stylist in America:

  1. Hickory, NC
  2. Goldsboro, NC
  3. Rocky Mount, NC

Detailed List Of The Best Cities For Stylists

Rank State Average Salary Entry Level Salary # Of People
1 Springfield, IL $40,600 $21,190 550
2 Tacoma, WA $37,830 $22,190 1,260
3 Ocean City, NJ $35,850 $21,060 240
4 Longview, WA $33,560 $21,320 140
5 Walla Walla, WA $32,060 $24,290 90
6 Weirton, WV $27,680 $17,330 170
7 Rapid City, SD $29,730 $18,940 220
8 The Villages, FL $30,370 $20,300 150
9 Cleveland, OH $29,060 $18,080 3,830
10 Corvallis, OR $31,090 $19,520 160
11 Naples, FL $35,960 $19,030 520
12 Fargo, ND $29,520 $17,980 480
13 Bremerton, WA $36,270 $22,340 230
14 Omaha, NE $31,920 $17,690 1,670
15 Cape Coral, FL $33,010 $18,710 1,130
16 Bismarck, ND $29,610 $17,820 240
17 Seattle, WA $41,210 $21,550 4,010
18 Atlantic City, NJ $33,660 $22,540 400
19 Cape Girardeau, MO $31,380 $17,880 110
20 Grand Forks, ND $31,080 $17,260 160
21 Johnstown, PA $31,110 $17,870 230
22 Bellingham, WA $31,620 $21,260 230
23 Springfield, MO $27,920 $16,780 780
24 Sioux Falls, SD $31,400 $21,000 330
25 Homosassa Springs, FL $31,390 $18,600 130
26 Terre Haute, IN $28,080 $19,800 180
27 Montgomery County, PA $30,400 $17,300 5,640
28 Akron, OH $23,780 $17,490 1,670
29 Cheyenne, WY $32,660 $17,700 120
30 Wheeling, WV $24,190 $17,710 240
31 Olympia, WA $27,110 $20,880 390
32 Warren, MI $28,330 $17,720 4,630
33 St. Joseph, MO $25,640 $17,220 200
34 Mansfield, OH $23,570 $17,470 240
35 Casper, WY $28,730 $18,030 120
36 Columbia, MO $27,360 $16,720 310
37 West Palm Beach, FL $33,360 $17,940 2,320
38 Pocatello, ID $29,830 $17,140 80
39 Canton, OH $25,070 $17,540 540
40 Framingham, MA $40,800 $21,130 490
41 Lawrence, KS $30,530 $16,560 180
42 Cincinnati, OH $24,960 $17,420 3,510
43 Wilmington, DE $32,720 $18,260 1,410
44 Austin, TX $32,750 $16,980 2,700
45 Kalamazoo, MI $30,830 $17,800 360
46 Charleston, WV $29,630 $17,380 240
47 Great Falls, MT $33,720 $18,160 70
48 Montgomery, AL $26,690 $16,740 500
49 Mount Vernon, WA $34,020 $22,560 90
50 Lima, OH $22,970 $17,340 230
51 Billings, MT $32,660 $19,640 150
52 Fayetteville, AR $24,700 $17,100 620
53 Hilton Head Island, SC $26,460 $17,730 190
54 Muskegon, MI $28,350 $18,270 170
55 Des Moines, IA $34,150 $17,250 900
56 Bloomsburg, PA $31,920 $21,550 80
57 Lynn, MA $45,800 $19,600 200
58 Columbus, OH $24,570 $17,490 3,060
59 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY $26,810 $16,630 1,300
60 Kansas City, MO $27,790 $16,640 2,730
61 Nashville, TN $29,980 $16,680 2,290
62 Medford, OR $33,630 $19,720 160
63 Memphis, TN $31,830 $17,370 1,220
64 North Port, FL $30,380 $17,940 1,110
65 Spokane, WA $34,200 $21,730 350
66 Eau Claire, WI $29,050 $17,430 400
67 St. Louis, MO $26,770 $17,410 3,230
68 Lexington, KY $24,890 $17,080 600
69 Lake County, IL $29,810 $17,920 1,800
70 Huntsville, AL $30,690 $16,890 430
71 Kennewick, WA $28,660 $21,450 240
72 Reading, PA $29,520 $16,810 750
73 Vineland, NJ $32,750 $18,770 450
74 Boulder, CO $36,700 $18,160 540
75 Johnson City, TN $24,110 $16,470 400
76 Charleston, SC $32,260 $16,810 650
77 Midland, MI $29,780 $17,990 80
78 Philadelphia, PA $27,980 $18,160 2,500
79 Fairbanks, AK $53,290 $23,990 30
80 Burlington, VT $33,600 $19,410 230
81 Palm Bay, FL $28,220 $18,160 800
82 Grand Rapids, MI $29,400 $17,840 1,170
83 Bay City, MI $30,400 $17,570 80
84 Abilene, TX $28,560 $17,350 170
85 Columbus, GA $29,480 $17,430 250
86 St. George, UT $27,060 $18,700 120
87 Gettysburg, PA $27,100 $18,220 90
88 Morgantown, WV $22,910 $17,170 180
89 Camden, NJ $32,750 $18,660 2,510
90 Dayton, OH $22,280 $17,380 1,290
91 Iowa City, IA $29,930 $17,140 230
92 Chattanooga, TN $30,900 $16,780 480
93 Boise City, ID $27,510 $16,360 680
94 South Bend, IN $23,170 $16,920 530
95 Sumter, SC $30,840 $16,530 70
96 Minneapolis, MN $28,870 $17,810 7,370
97 Midland, TX $31,560 $20,050 100
98 Trenton, NJ $32,990 $19,640 590
99 Newark, NJ $35,880 $19,330 2,920
100 Little Rock, AR $26,570 $16,740 650
Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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