How to transfer your Barber licence to Pennsylvania (2026)

Barber work in Pennsylvania is licensed at state level, by the Pennsylvania Board of Barbering (or Barbering and Cosmetology). This page says what a barber licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Pennsylvania, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

Every state licenses barbers and most offer endorsement or reciprocity to a licensed barber with comparable hours, typically 1,000 to 1,500, and a clean record. Pennsylvania's board will usually require its own law and rules exam and may require the practical exam if your training hours are below its minimum.

Exam: the state's written and practical barber exams, NIC in many states.

How long: two to eight weeks. Fee: $50 to $200; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• Licence verification
• School hours transcript
• Proof of work experience

Start the paperwork before you give notice. Every week the licence is not done is a week you are not paid, and nothing in the process needs you to be in Pennsylvania already.

What people get wrong

• Assuming a cosmetology licence covers barbering; in most states it does not cover straight-razor shaving

Who hires barbers in Pennsylvania

Barbers in Pennsylvania are hired by barbershops, salons and booth rental. The metros with the most of that work are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie and Harrisburg. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Pennsylvania openings page.

For the money side: the median barber in Pennsylvania earned $42,570 a year ($20 an hour) in May 2024 across 920 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Pennsylvania has a flat 3.07% state income tax. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Pennsylvania, on one page

The Pennsylvania page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Pennsylvania employers hiring from out of state.