Beauty Therapist Salary and Pay Rates 2026-27
Beauty work is covered by the Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020, which sets one scale of 6 levels for hairdressing and beauty together. A beauty therapist with a Certificate IV is on level 4 and one with a Diploma on level 6. Department store counters and Western Australian salons can fall outside it.
The qualification sets the level, and the employer sets the award
Schedule A of MA000005 defines each level by role and qualification, so the same treatment room can hold a level 2, 3, 4 or 6 employee. Clause 4.4 leaves hair and beauty work in general retailing, theatrical, amusement and entertainment businesses outside this award, and in Western Australia a salon that is not an incorporated company can sit under the Hair and Beauty Industry (WA) Award instead. No figure from either is published here.
The short answer
A beauty therapist with a Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy is paid at least $30.00 an hour at Hair and beauty employee level 4, or $1,139.90 a week full-time for 38 ordinary hours, about $59,275 a year. With a Diploma it is level 6, $32.00 an hour. A beautician with a Certificate III is on level 3 at $29.45. A casual at level 4 is paid $37.50 an hour, including the 25% loading, and a Sunday pays a full-time therapist $60.00 an hour.
Beauty therapist, Certificate IV
$30.00
Hair and beauty employee level 4, an hour
Beauty therapist, Diploma
$32.00
Hair and beauty employee level 6, an hour
Casual, Certificate IV
$37.50
Includes the 25% loading
Take-home a year
$49,787
$1,915 a fortnight, at level 4
These are legal minimums set by a modern award, not a market average. This site does not publish average or advertised salaries, because the number that matters on a payslip is the floor an employer cannot go below. Many employers pay more, and an enterprise agreement can set a higher rate again.
Beauty therapist rates, level by level.
Adult base rates from the award’s one scale, split into the four levels Schedule A gives to beauty work and the two it gives to reception and hairdressing. Every casual figure is printed in schedule B of the award. None of them is an apprentice or junior rate.
Beauty levels, 2, 3, 4 and 6
1 July 2026 · PR799286
The note under each level is the classification Schedule A gives it.
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hair and beauty employee level 2A.2: unqualified beautician, make-up artist or nail technician | $1,081.00 | $28.45 | $35.56 | $47,704 |
| Hair and beauty employee level 3A.3: beautician with a Certificate III in Beauty Services | $1,119.10 | $29.45 | $36.81 | $49,051 |
| Hair and beauty employee level 4A.4: beauty therapist with a Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy | $1,139.90 | $30.00 | $37.50 | $49,787 |
| Hair and beauty employee level 6A.6: beauty therapist with a Diploma of Beauty Therapy | $1,215.90 | $32.00 | $40.00 | $52,474 |
Reception and hairdressing levels, 1 and 5
1 July 2026 · PR799286
The rest of the same scale, for comparison.
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hair and beauty employee level 1A.1: receptionist or salon assistant | $1,056.80 | $27.81 | $34.76 | $46,848 |
| Hair and beauty employee level 5A.5: hairdresser with a Certificate IV, or trichologist | $1,174.00 | $30.89 | $38.61 | $50,993 |
Hourly figures are the weekly rate over 38 ordinary hours. Take-home is an estimate for a single Australian resident for tax purposes with no study loan debt and no Medicare levy surcharge, worked out with the same Wage Calculator used across this site. Superannuation is paid by your employer on top of these rates and is never deducted from them.
Beauty therapist weekend and public holiday rates.
Clause 23 of the award sets the penalty rates and Schedule B.1.1 prints them. A full-time or part-time employee is paid 133% of the minimum hourly rate on a Saturday between 7.00am and 6.00pm, 200% on a Sunday between 10.00am and 5.00pm and 250% on a public holiday. At level 4 that is $39.90 an hour on a Saturday, $60.00 on a Sunday and $75.00 on a public holiday, and at level 6 $42.56, $64.00 and $80.00.
A casual is paid 158% on a Saturday, 225% on a Sunday and 250% on a public holiday, which already includes the 25% loading: $47.40, $67.50 and $75.00 an hour at level 4. Every level, and the same rates for hairdressers, is on Hairdresser Pay Rate.
Which award covers a beauty therapist, and which level applies.
The Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 (MA000005) covers employers in the hair and beauty industry and their employees (clause 4.1). Clause 4.2 lists the work that makes a business part of that industry, and most of it is beauty work: facial or body waxing, face or head massage, brow and lash tinting, body hair removal including electrolysis and laser, manicures, pedicures and nail enhancement, make-up, skin analysis and facial treatments, body treatments using machinery, aromatherapy and electrical equipment for body and facial treatments.
Schedule A defines every level by role and qualification. In the award’s own words:
- Level 1 (A.1): a receptionist or salon assistant.
- Level 2 (A.2): (a) a make-up artist who holds a Certificate II in make-up services (or equivalent); (b) a nail technician who holds a Certificate II in Nail Technology (or equivalent); or (c) an unqualified beautician or cosmetologist.
- Level 3 (A.3): (a) a beautician who holds a Certificate III in Beauty Services (or equivalent); or (b) a hairdresser who holds a Certificate III in Hairdressing (or equivalent).
- Level 4 (A.4): a beauty therapist who holds a Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy (or equivalent).
- Level 5 (A.5): (a) a hairdresser who holds a Certificate IV (or equivalent); or (b) a trichologist who is a hairdresser and holds a Certificate IV in Trichology (or equivalent).
- Level 6 (A.6): a beauty therapist who holds a Diploma in Beauty Therapy (or equivalent).
Beauty work sits on levels 2, 3, 4 and 6. A beauty therapist with a Certificate IV is therefore on level 4, above a Certificate III beautician on level 3, and a Diploma moves the therapist to level 6, the top of the scale. Whether a course counts as “or equivalent” turns on the course, and this page cannot settle it.
Clause 4.4 takes hair and beauty work in general retailing, theatrical, amusement and entertainment businesses out of this award. A cosmetics or skin care counter in a department store is one example, and the retail award's levels are on Retail Award Pay Rates. A beauty therapy apprentice is paid on the award's own apprentice scale instead, set out on Apprentice Hairdresser Wages.
From the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, the figures above are the floor. A therapist paid commission or renting a room rather than employed is a separate question this page does not answer.
Every classification in this award, including the ones this page leaves out, is listed on the Hair and Beauty Award Pay Rates page.
What $30.00 an hour leaves on a payslip.
A full-time week at the Hair and beauty employee level 4 rate is $1,139.90 before tax. The ATO weekly withholding schedule for 2026-27 takes $183.00 from it when the tax-free threshold is claimed, so $956.90 reaches your account. Paid fortnightly, it is $1,913.80.
| 38 hours a week | Gross a week | Tax withheld | Take-home a week | Take-home a fortnight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time$30.00 an hour | $1,139.90 | $183.00 | $956.90 | $1,913.80 |
| Casual, same hours$37.50 an hour | $1,425.00 | $275.00 | $1,150.00 | $2,300.00 |
Withholding is the payslip figure, not the year’s tax: the schedule rounds each pay to the dollar and leaves offsets to the tax return, which is why it differs a little from the take-home a year above. Super is paid on top. For a different number of hours, the Weekly Pay Calculator opens with $30.00 and 38 hours filled in, and the Overtime Calculator adds hours at time and a half and double time to the same rate, before any award-specific overtime rules.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Award
- Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 (MA000005)
- Effective from
- 1 July 2026
- Consolidated to
- 1 July 2026
- Determinations
- PR799280, PR799286, PR799444
- Retrieved
- 9 September 2026
- Ordinary hours
- 38 a week
Every rate above was read from the award text at the Fair Work award library and nothing on this page is copied from another pay site. Rates change from the first full pay period on or after the effective date, so a payslip covering the changeover can lawfully carry the older figure for part of the period.
What this page does not cover.
Listed as plainly as what it does, because a rate page that hides its gaps is how the wrong number ends up on a payslip.
Western Australian state award
A Western Australian salon that is not an incorporated company sits outside the national system and under the Hair and Beauty Industry (WA) Award. No figure from it is published here.
Retail and entertainment work
Clause 4.4 leaves beauty work in general retailing, theatrical, amusement and entertainment businesses to other awards.
Apprentice and junior rates
Beauty therapy apprentices have their own scale, and employees under 18 a junior percentage of the adult rate. Neither is in these tables.
Commission, room rental and market pay
These are award minimums for employees, not an average, and not what a given salon offers or a commission arrangement pays.
Overtime and allowances
Weekend and public holiday rates for ordinary hours are on this page. Overtime and allowances are not.
Whether a qualification counts
Schedule A says "or equivalent". Whether a course you completed is equivalent turns on your own facts.
Beauty Therapist Salary questions, answered.
How much does a beauty therapist earn in Australia?
A beauty therapist with a Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy is paid at least $1,139.90 a week under the Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 (MA000005), which is $30.00 an hour at Hair and beauty employee level 4 and $59,275 a year full-time before tax. With a Diploma of Beauty Therapy it is level 6, $32.00 an hour or $63,227 a year, the top of the award. A beautician with a Certificate III is on level 3 at $29.45, and an unqualified beautician on level 2 at $28.45. Those are national minimums; many salons and clinics pay more.
What is the hourly rate for a beauty therapist?
$30.00 an hour at level 4, the level Schedule A gives "a beauty therapist who holds a Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy (or equivalent)", and $32.00 an hour at level 6 with a Diploma. Each is the weekly rate over a 38 hour week, and the award prints the hourly figure itself. A Saturday between 7.00am and 6.00pm pays $39.90 an hour at level 4 and a Sunday $60.00.
What is the casual rate for a beauty therapist?
The hourly rate plus a 25% loading: $37.50 an hour at level 4 and $40.00 at level 6. On a Saturday between 7.00am and 6.00pm a casual is paid 158% of the minimum hourly rate, on a Sunday 225% and on a public holiday 250%, which is $47.40, $67.50 and $75.00 an hour at level 4. Those percentages already include the loading.
Is a beautician paid less than a beauty therapist?
Under this award, yes, because the qualification sets the level. A beautician with a Certificate III in Beauty Services is level 3, $29.45 an hour. A beauty therapist with a Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy is level 4, $30.00, and one with a Diploma is level 6, $32.00. An unqualified beautician or cosmetologist, a make-up artist with a Certificate II and a nail technician with a Certificate II are level 2, $28.45. A job title on its own does not decide it; the qualification held and the work done do.
Does the award cover a beauty therapist in a department store or spa?
Not always. Clause 4.4 says the award does not cover employees who perform hair and beauty work in the general retailing, theatrical, amusement and entertainment industries, so beauty work at a cosmetics counter in a department store, which is general retailing, falls outside it. A day spa or skin clinic whose business is the treatments in clause 4.2, such as facials, waxing, laser hair removal, massage and electrical body treatments, is within the hair and beauty industry. In Western Australia a salon that is not an incorporated company may sit under the Hair and Beauty Industry (WA) Award instead.
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