Career Center - Spa & Beauty Growth

Growth of the Spa and Beauty Industry

People like to look and feel their best. The market for estheticians and hair stylists has always been strong, but it has risen to a new level in recent years with a profound shift toward more holistic health and beauty approaches. Beyond just a haircut and a quick facial, more women – and men – are looking for a time-out, an escape and an opportunity to pamper themselves.

The salon, spa and beauty industries have become an antidote to the fast-paced lifestyles of the information age. Formerly “alternative” health treatments, like massage and acupuncture, are enjoying mainstream success. And with salons and spas for almost every budget, the self-care trend is not limited to the super-rich. Ordinary people are getting “mani-pedis” on their lunch breaks and detoxification body wraps at their local day spas.

All this translates into tremendous growth for salons and spas. The spa industry is booming like never before, making today a great time to join the industry.

Learn how recent spa growth has made the salon, spa and beauty industries very promising professions:

There is an increasing number of spas and spa-goers...

• There were approximately 13,757 spas in the United States in August 2006, up from 10,128 in April 2004.
• About 80 percent of these spas are day spas. Only 9 percent are resort and hotel spas.
• The number of day spas in the US doubled in just two years from 4,389 in 2002 to 8,734 in 2004. By 2006, that number had risen to 10,988.
• Americans made 131 million visits to spas in 2005, up from 109 million in 2003.
• There are 32.2 million active spa-goers in the US.
• About 31 percent of US spa-goers are men, inspiring a trend for male spas.

Revenue continues to rise in the spa industry...

• The US spa industry generated $9.7 billion in 2005, up from $7 million in 2003.
• The salon industry as a whole grosses about $72 billion per year.
• The spa industry is the fourth largest leisure industry in the United States.
• The fastest growing segment of the spa industry is the medical spa – or medspa – where patients are supervised by medical professionals and can receive cosmetic surgery and diagnostic testing, as well as spa treatments. There are more than 915 medspas in the US, representing 7 percent of the total number of spas.

There is a higher demand for spa and salon professionals...

• Approximately 267,000 individuals were employed in the spa industry as of August 2006.
• There are over 310,000 beauty salons, barber shops, skin care salons and nail salons in the US, employing more than 1.6 million professionals.
• Between 1999 and 2003, the total number of salon professionals grew by 24 percent.

In response to spa and salon growth, there is a high demand for spa and beauty professionals. According to NACCAS, the average salon income, including tips, is $30,000 to $50,000 per year, but there are salon and beauty professionals who make upwards of six figures. If you aspire to a career where your skills and expertise can positively influence people’s lives, a career in the spa and beauty industry may be right for you.

Return to the Spa and Beauty Career Center home page.

Looking for Beauty Schools?

Try our Spa, Massage & Beauty Schools page. There you will find a comprehensive list of schools which offer program descriptions. You can also request information from the schools that interest you most.

Sources:
International Spa Association, 2007.
Spa & Resort Expo, 2006.
NACCAS, 2007.