Manicurists and Pedicurists

Low pay & highrisk
Moderate Risk
Low High

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
4.0/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

59% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Working directly with the public

Quite important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 110 votes

43% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 59% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Manicurists and Pedicurists will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Manicurists and Pedicurists was $34,660 ($17 per hour).

The median annual wage for Manicurists and Pedicurists was 30.0% lower than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Manicurists and Pedicurists' job openings is expected to rise 7.0% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 147,820 people employed as 'Manicurists and Pedicurists' within the United States.

This represents around 0.10% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Manicurists and Pedicurists'.

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What people are saying (5)

Leave a comment
Cc (Low)
14 Jun 2025 16:17
Painting nails— maybe. It has been done. But acrylic and gel x? Intricate designs? It wouldn’t be anytime soon. Even if it did, it would not be good or widely available until probably this generation of nail techs are retired. So if you are a current or soon to be nail tech, don’t shit your pants at the 81%. There’s actual issues in the career to worry about.
Angela (Low)
14 Aug 2024 16:48
The nails being done themselves can be automated, but most, if not all, women getting their nails done only go to the girls they enjoy talking to.

You can't fake human interaction and platonic relationships, I think.
NO THANKS (Low)
18 Dec 2022 03:24
Yea as if I want a robot touching my hands and stuff.
Andy B
28 Oct 2022 09:01
I agree with Andrea S, the individuality of people, the shape etc. of their hands I find this hard to see how this can have such a high score for automation. Only time will tell I guess
Andrea S (Uncertain)
20 Nov 2020 18:57
Am a nail technician, what I do creating custom extensions are individual to the clients nails, also somewhat finicky to do, I doubt a robot could do it accurately though who knows, robots are getting better and better.
Leave a reply about this occupation
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Job description

Clean and shape customers' fingernails and toenails. May polish or decorate nails.

O*NET-SOC code: 39-5092.00