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Boston Career Explorer

Personal Care and Service

Manicurists and Pedicurists

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

Also called: Manicurist, Nail Technician (Nail Tech), Pedicurist

Median pay in Greater Boston
$35,480
$17.06/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
3,780
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+4.5%
850 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Postsecondary nondegree award

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$34,880$35,000$35,480$45,650$46,220

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Clean and sanitize tools and work environment.
  • Apply undercoat and clear or colored polish onto nails with brush.
  • Maintain supply inventories and records of client services.
  • Shape and smooth ends of nails, using scissors, files, or emery boards.
  • Prepare nail cuticles with water and oil, using cuticle knives to push back cuticles and scissors or nippers to trim cuticles.
  • Prepare customers' nails in soapy water, using swabs, files, and orange sticks.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Moderate exposure36 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 47
  • Language-model AIOE 46
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 14

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

Manicurists have moderate AI exposure, and observed AI use in this work is little or none. AI tools could help with back-office tasks like tracking supplies and client records. Shaping nails, trimming cuticles, and applying polish are hands-on tasks that AI tools do not do.

Likely to change

  • Tracking supply inventory
  • Keeping client service records

Still relies on people

  • Shaping nails and applying polish by hand
  • Cuticle care and sanitizing tools

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

10 programs near Boston

Related occupations

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