Best Cities for Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performances

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where makeup artists, theatrical and performances get the most value from their salary after accounting for cost of living. A score above 1.00 means better than national average.

How we calculate this: City Score = (Local Salary ÷ National Median) ÷ (Local Cost ÷ National Avg Cost). A score of 1.20 means 20% better purchasing power than average.

#	Location	Score	Raw Salary	Adjusted Salary	Rent/Income
1	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GAMetro	1.70	$160,190	$165,486	12%
2	GeorgiaState	1.58	$143,230	$153,351	12%
3	LouisianaState	1.48	$129,580	$143,818	10%
4	CaliforniaState	1.31	$140,870	$127,254	19%
5	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CAMetro	1.24	$140,870	$120,918	19%
6	New YorkState	0.89	$97,150	$86,356	23%
7	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WVMetro	0.87	$95,730	$84,867	25%
8	District of ColumbiaState	0.86	$95,730	$83,753	26%
9	FloridaState	0.84	$82,400	$81,182	25%

Data Sources: Salary: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS). Cost of Living: BEA Regional Price Parities (2024). Rent: HUD Fair Market Rents (FY2025).