COSMETOLOGY SCHOOLS IN KENTUCKY — Federal Data, September 2026
Cosmetology Schools in Kentucky, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
14 accredited institutions in Kentucky report enough federal data on this program to be compared. They are ranked here on a single measure: how many months of gross pay it takes a graduate to cover the median debt.
See The RankingU.S. Department of Education data. No school paid to be listed.
Across the 14 ranked programs in Kentucky, the median graduate needs 10.6 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $13,216, against median earnings of $15,500 one year after completion.
That is slower than the national median of 6.8 months for this field, measured across the 987 institutions in our national cosmetology schools ranking. The best performer in the state is PJ’s College of Cosmetology-Bowling Green in Bowling Green, at 6.0 months.
Every figure on this page is recalculated on Kentucky institutions only. Nothing is carried over from the national page.
At A Glance
What the federal data says about cosmetology schools in Kentucky
The Ranking
14 cosmetology schools in Kentucky, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Award | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PJ’s College of Cosmetology-Bowling GreenBowling Green, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 6.0 | $10,667 | $21,439 | 64% |
| 2 | Paul Mitchell the School-LouisvilleLouisville, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 7.5 | $12,583 | $20,033 | 73% |
| 3 | Summit Salon Academy-LexingtonLexington, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 7.7 | $10,667 | $16,679 | 55% |
| 4 | Empire Beauty School-ElizabethtownElizabethtown, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 8.4 | $10,667 | $15,322 | 51% |
| 5 | Empire Beauty School-FlorenceFlorence, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 10.3 | $15,765 | $18,408 | 75% |
| 6 | Paul Mitchell the School-LexingtonLexington, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 10.4 | $16,500 | $18,950 | 79% |
| 7 | Empire Beauty School-ChenowethLouisville, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 10.4 | $13,583 | $15,679 | 57% |
| 8 | Empire Beauty School-DixieLouisville, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 10.7 | $14,492 | $16,251 | 52% |
| 9 | American College of BarberingLouisville, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 11.1 | $14,115 | $15,279 | 62% |
| 10 | Lindsey Institute of CosmetologyBowling Green, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 12.0 | $12,679 | $12,627 | 83% |
| 11 | Campbellsville UniversityCampbellsville, KY | nonprofit | Certificate | 12.3 | $12,850 | $12,486 | 42% |
| 12 | Somerset Community CollegeSomerset, KY | Public | Certificate | 12.3 | $11,832 | $11,565 | 43% |
| 13 | Employment Solutions-College for Technical EducationLexington, KY | nonprofit | Certificate | 14.1 | $15,413 | $13,117 | 63% |
| 14 | PJ’s College of Cosmetology-GlasgowGlasgow, KY | for-profit | Certificate | 18.1 | $16,500 | $10,936 | 67% |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts by Field of Study and by Institution (published 9 June 2026). Debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of completers in this program; earnings are median earnings one year after completion. Where a school offers the program at both certificate and associate level, the shorter payback is shown. Completion is the institution’s published rate, not the program’s.
The Top Five, In Detail
The five fastest payback programs in Kentucky, one by one
PJ’s College of Cosmetology-Bowling Green
Bowling Green, KY
PJ’s College of Cosmetology-Bowling Green is a private for-profit institution in Bowling Green. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $10,667 and report median earnings of $21,439 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 6.0 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 4.6 months faster than the Kentucky state median of 10.6. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 64% completion rate.
Paul Mitchell the School-Louisville
Louisville, KY
Paul Mitchell the School-Louisville is a private for-profit institution in Louisville. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $12,583 and report median earnings of $20,033 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 7.5 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and 3.1 months faster than the Kentucky state median of 10.6. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 73% completion rate.
Summit Salon Academy-Lexington
Lexington, KY
Summit Salon Academy-Lexington is a private for-profit institution in Lexington. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $10,667 and report median earnings of $16,679 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 7.7 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and 2.9 months faster than the Kentucky state median of 10.6. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 55% completion rate.
Empire Beauty School-Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown, KY
Empire Beauty School-Elizabethtown is a private for-profit institution in Elizabethtown. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $10,667 and report median earnings of $15,322 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 8.4 months of gross pay: fourth in the state, and 2.2 months faster than the Kentucky state median of 10.6. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 51% completion rate.
Empire Beauty School-Florence
Florence, KY
Empire Beauty School-Florence is a private for-profit institution in Florence. Its cosmetology graduates leave with a median federal debt of $15,765 and report median earnings of $18,408 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 10.3 months of gross pay: fifth in the state, and 0.3 months faster than the Kentucky state median of 10.6. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 75% completion rate.
Read It Carefully
What this ranking does not measure
Absence from this page is not a verdict. The Department of Education suppresses figures for programs with small cohorts, so a small, excellent school will often have no publishable data at all. Schools that enroll no students on federal aid are outside this dataset entirely.
The measure is a ratio, not a repayment plan, and it counts federal loan debt only. Cash payments, private loans and employer sponsorship are invisible here. Local wages shape earnings as much as the school does, which is exactly why comparing inside one state, as this page does, is more informative than comparing across the country.
Other States
The same program, another state
Other Programs in Kentucky
Comparing a different trade in Kentucky
For KENTUCKY School Operators
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