US nail-salon employer locations: growth by state, 2019–2023

Which states added the most covered locations?

California had the largest numerical increase in the comparison: 1,435 more covered employer locations in 2023 than in 2019. Texas added 639, Florida 582, Georgia 240 and Pennsylvania 236. Together, these five states accounted for 3,132 of the national net increase of 6,478 locations.

HomeWise calculations from Census County Business Patterns, NAICS 2017 812113, all legal forms. Employer establishments with paid employees at any time in each reference year. Percentages rounded individually. Census 2019 data · Census 2023 data

State	Employer locations, 2019	Employer locations, 2023	Net change, locations	Change, %	Share of US net increase, %
California	5,315	6,750	+1,435	27.0	22.2
Texas	1,242	1,881	+639	51.4	9.9
Florida	1,160	1,742	+582	50.2	9.0
Georgia	607	847	+240	39.5	3.7
Pennsylvania	1,610	1,846	+236	14.7	3.6

The combined contribution is 48.3% of the net national change. It is not a finding that 48.3% of new salons opened in those states: the two annual totals do not identify openings, closures, ownership changes or individual businesses. A location may enter or leave the employer population when its payroll or industry classification changes.

The percentage contributions in the table are rounded separately. Adding the displayed one-decimal percentages can differ from the 48.3% total, which is calculated from the unrounded counts. California alone accounted for 22.2% of the national net increase.

A complete state and DC reference

The table includes the United States total, all 50 states and the District of Columbia. State and DC counts sum exactly to the separately published national count in both reference years. The last column shows each jurisdiction’s share of covered US locations in 2023; it measures the stock of locations, rather than its contribution to growth.

HomeWise calculations from Census County Business Patterns, NAICS 2017 812113, all legal forms. Employer establishments with paid employees at any time in each reference year. Percentages rounded individually. Census 2019 data · Census 2023 data

Geography	Employer locations, 2019	Employer locations, 2023	Net change, locations	Change, %	Share of US locations in 2023, %
United States	27,939	34,417	+6,478	23.2	100.0
Alabama	186	290	+104	55.9	0.8
Alaska	35	61	+26	74.3	0.2
Arizona	429	661	+232	54.1	1.9
Arkansas	76	131	+55	72.4	0.4
California	5,315	6,750	+1,435	27.0	19.6
Colorado	585	739	+154	26.3	2.1
Connecticut	820	781	−39	-4.8	2.3
Delaware	110	145	+35	31.8	0.4
District of Columbia	64	63	−1	-1.6	0.2
Florida	1,160	1,742	+582	50.2	5.1
Georgia	607	847	+240	39.5	2.5
Hawaii	74	86	+12	16.2	0.2
Idaho	62	98	+36	58.1	0.3
Illinois	777	968	+191	24.6	2.8
Indiana	116	194	+78	67.2	0.6
Iowa	108	154	+46	42.6	0.4
Kansas	158	258	+100	63.3	0.7
Kentucky	80	117	+37	46.2	0.3
Louisiana	418	537	+119	28.5	1.6
Maine	43	73	+30	69.8	0.2
Maryland	450	591	+141	31.3	1.7
Massachusetts	927	1,100	+173	18.7	3.2
Michigan	142	244	+102	71.8	0.7
Minnesota	614	672	+58	9.4	2.0
Mississippi	95	164	+69	72.6	0.5
Missouri	302	399	+97	32.1	1.2
Montana	25	39	+14	56.0	0.1
Nebraska	43	52	+9	20.9	0.2
Nevada	134	235	+101	75.4	0.7
New Hampshire	156	172	+16	10.3	0.5
New Jersey	2,111	2,126	+15	0.7	6.2
New Mexico	43	75	+32	74.4	0.2
New York	4,279	4,329	+50	1.2	12.6
North Carolina	366	570	+204	55.7	1.7
North Dakota	32	61	+29	90.6	0.2
Ohio	642	757	+115	17.9	2.2
Oklahoma	126	189	+63	50.0	0.5
Oregon	410	430	+20	4.9	1.2
Pennsylvania	1,610	1,846	+236	14.7	5.4
Rhode Island	75	112	+37	49.3	0.3
South Carolina	227	314	+87	38.3	0.9
South Dakota	18	44	+26	144.4	0.1
Tennessee	194	314	+120	61.9	0.9
Texas	1,242	1,881	+639	51.4	5.5
Utah	126	260	+134	106.3	0.8
Vermont	35	39	+4	11.4	0.1
Virginia	725	930	+205	28.3	2.7
Washington	1,177	1,234	+57	4.8	3.6
West Virginia	31	55	+24	77.4	0.2
Wisconsin	344	465	+121	35.2	1.4
Wyoming	15	23	+8	53.3	0.1

Across the 51 state/DC jurisdictions, 49 had higher counts in 2023. Connecticut went from 820 to 781 (a net change of −39), while DC went from 64 to 63 (−1). None had an unchanged total. These comparisons cover the published employer population, rather than every person providing nail services.

Numerical growth and percentage growth answer different questions

The largest numerical increase and the highest percentage increase occurred in different states. California’s count grew by 1,435 locations, from 5,315 to 6,750: 27.0%. South Dakota rose from 18 to 44: 26 more locations, or 144.4%. South Dakota had the highest percentage change in this 51-jurisdiction comparison, but California’s numerical increase was much larger.

That difference is why a percentage needs its starting count. Small baselines can produce large percentage changes without large numbers of additional locations. We provide both endpoints and the numerical change in the table so that journalists can choose the measure that answers their question.

These are not population-adjusted figures, a ranking of salon quality or a measure of appointments available to residents. We did not calculate consumer demand, business revenue, profit or the number of customers served. A higher location count does not establish any of those outcomes.

What Census counts as a nail-salon establishment

The 2017 NAICS manual defines industry 812113, Nail Salons around establishments primarily providing nail care, including manicures, pedicures and nail extensions. Classification follows the establishment’s main activity. The count is not a list of every business that offers any nail service.

The Census CBP glossary defines an establishment as a physical location. A company can have more than one establishment. It also states that establishment counts cover locations with paid employees at any time during the reference year.

Independent businesses with no paid employees are outside this population. We have not added nonemployer business counts to employer establishments: they use different units and universes. These data also do not measure the number of licensed nail technicians, all nail workers, informal providers or everyone working at a particular salon.

The comparison is explicitly 2019 to 2023. The article’s 2026 publication date does not make the reference-year counts current to 2026. It should be cited as a historical comparison whenever it is used in a present-day story.

Methodology

HomeWise Review compiled this comparison and calculated the changes. The U.S. Census Bureau produced the underlying County Business Patterns (CBP) counts. HomeWise did not survey salons, collect payroll records or visit the establishments.

We retrieved the official 2019 and 2023 national and state CSV archives on October 14, 2026. The 2019 release is dated April 22, 2021; the 2023 release is dated June 26, 2025. The dates of release, reference years and article publication serve different purposes.

For each file, we selected the six-digit industry code 812113, the total legal-form code -, and the published establishment field est. Both releases use the 2017 NAICS classification. The 2018–2019 state layout and 2020–2023 state layout identify - as the all-establishments category. This flat-file code should not be confused with the API’s numeric legal-form codes.

We used the published totals directly. Census explains that some small detailed cells are omitted under its disclosure methodology. Summing available legal-form categories can therefore miss establishments. We did not estimate or reconstruct suppressed detail.

The selected data contain 104 original observations: 52 geographies in each of two years. The state-file comparison covers all 50 states plus DC; Puerto Rico and other territories are outside it. No selected total was missing, and the national/state reconciliation passed for both years. Original state FIPS codes were matched to the official state-code reference.

Calculations use the original integer counts:

1. Net change: 2023 count − 2019 count.
2. Percentage change: 100 × (2023 count ÷ 2019 count − 1).
3. Share of net US change: 100 × a jurisdiction’s net change ÷ the national net change.
4. Share of 2023 US locations: 100 × a jurisdiction’s 2023 count ÷ the 2023 national count.

The five largest numerical increases were selected from the full set of 51 state/DC changes. Their contribution is calculated by adding their unrounded numerical changes and dividing by the national net change. National percentage change uses the two national counts, rather than an average of state percentages.

Displayed percentages are rounded to one decimal; downloadable calculated percentages retain six decimals. An independent implementation using exact fractions re-read the original archives and checked all 104 observations and 158 derived values. CSV and JSON exports were checked for agreement.

Only the two stated reference years are compared. We did not collect the intervening annual series, so the data do not establish when each change occurred or its year-by-year path. Net changes can reflect multiple business and classification changes; they are not counts of gross openings or closures. They do not establish the effects of COVID, tariffs, state laws or other causes.

For a different measure of the beauty economy, our US cosmetics and personal-care price-index comparison examines price movement. Its period and population differ from this employer-location comparison, so the reports should not be combined to infer a cause.

Sources

• Census 2019 CBP release and downloads: national file and state file.
• Census 2023 CBP release and downloads: national file and state file.
• CBP glossary and counting definitions.
• CBP methodology and disclosure limitations.
• 2017 NAICS manual, nail-salon definition.
• State-file layouts for 2018–2019 and 2020–2023.
• State FIPS and postal-code reference.

Download the comparison

Download comparison CSV · Download comparison JSON

Both files contain 52 comparison rows: the national total and the 51 state/DC jurisdictions. The 2019 and 2023 establishment counts are public Census observations. Net changes, percentage changes and 2023 national shares are HomeWise calculations. The files retain the industry and total legal-form codes so that the selection can be reproduced. Blank or null state-FIPS/postal values on the national row mean those state identifiers do not apply.

Credit the U.S. Census Bureau for the underlying counts and HomeWise Review for the comparison. Census provides citation guidance and its public-access policy describes U.S. copyright treatment, including foreign and contractor qualifications. These exports contain numerical counts and calculations. You may reuse the HomeWise calculations without registration, a permission request or a required backlink.