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Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists vs Barbers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists and Barbers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists Barbers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$35,250
$38,960
Employment · BLS OEWS
295,460
18,100
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
17th pct
29th pct

At a glance

Dimension Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists Barbers
Median pay $35,250 $38,960
Employment 295,460 18,100
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+5.6%) About average (+4.1%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 75,800 8,400
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 17th pct Low · 29th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 26th pct · 18% of tasks 23rd pct · 17% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (65.6%) Augmentation-leaning (41.3%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Customer and Personal Service, Near Vision, Active Listening, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Manual Dexterity, Finger Dexterity, Speaking, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Originality, Sales and Marketing, Service Orientation, Speech Recognition, Visualization, Critical Thinking, Active Learning, Judgment and Decision Making, Fluency of Ideas, Speech Clarity, Social Perceptiveness, Problem Sensitivity, Administration and Management, Reading Comprehension, Monitoring, Time Management, Written Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Selective Attention, Education and Training, Coordination.

Specific to Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists

  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Category Flexibility
  • Writing
  • Learning Strategies
  • Persuasion
  • Instructing
  • Written Expression

Specific to Barbers

  • English Language
  • Economics and Accounting
  • Psychology
  • Control Precision
  • Trunk Strength
  • Mathematics
  • Time Sharing
  • Production and Processing

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Operating system software , Web page creation and editing software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Word processing software , Calendar and scheduling software , Data base user interface and query software , Point of sale POS software , Video creation and editing software .

Specific to Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists

Specific to Barbers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists or Barbers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists vs Barbers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/hairdressers-hairstylists-and-cosmetologists-vs-barbers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists vs Barbers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/hairdressers-hairstylists-and-cosmetologists-vs-barbers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-hairdressers-hairstylists-and-cosmetologists-vs-barbers,
  title  = {Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists vs Barbers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/hairdressers-hairstylists-and-cosmetologists-vs-barbers}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.