Salary
Average Salary: $28,640
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,195,663
All those fancy, $50 bottles of nutrient-packed, alpha-hydroxy potions you recommend for your clients? Good luck purchasing those on your own. You'll be jumping out of your skin once you hear your salary. An esthetician makes an average $28,640 per year—that's a little under fourteen dollars per hour (source).
If you're determined to make more than $30,000 a year, pay close attention to where you work. Wages are highest in "ambulatory health care," meaning outpatient treatment. Here, medical estheticians make $18 an hour (source). In "health stores" (a.k.a. spas) you'll make an average $13.31 (source) and you'll be make the least in "traveler accommodation" (a.k.a. going from hotel room to hotel room, massaging people's foreheads and popping their pimples) (source).
Those are some of the top five industries, by pay. Just keep that in mind. If you want to get into this profession, do it because you love the work.