The Most Beauty-Obsessed U.S. Cities
From nail art and facials to body care treatments and blowouts, booking a beauty service is a popular way for consumers to spend, support local businesses, and keep up with beauty trends. But some cities have more demand, and therefore more treatments available than others.
We conducted a study using Google business listings data to determine the most beauty-obsessed cities based on the number of beauty-related businesses — including niches like hair or nail salons and spas — as well as the consumer ratings of those businesses, in the 50 largest U.S. cities. Read on to discover what we found.
Ranked: the most beauty-obsessed cities
The top-three most beauty-obsessed U.S. cities are Portland, Oregon, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Austin, Texas, according to our ranking. This means these cities top the list of the most beauty businesses per resident that also maintain a high-quality standard.
In particular, Portland has some of the highest-rated hair and spa businesses in the country. Salt Lake City has a standout number of beauty treatment services per resident, such as nail salons, makeup artists, and tanning salons. Austin has very highly rated beauty treatments and spas, as well.
To calculate the most beauty-obsessed cities, we organized beauty businesses into three categories: spas, beauty treatments (such as nails, skin, and makeup), and hair. The overall ranking is across all categories.
Let’s take a look at which cities stood out for each category.
The best cities for hair salons and services
Narrowing in on hair-related businesses, the categories include hair salons, hairdressers, and barber shops. Which cities are striking the golden combination of an abundance of hair services that are also top-notch? Portland tops this list as well, followed by Buffalo, New York, and Richmond, Virginia.
While Portland has significantly fewer hair businesses per resident than other cities on the list, the Portland businesses are clearly highly regarded by their customers. Portland hair services have the highest average customer ratings in the country. The runner-up city, Buffalo, has the highest concentration of hair businesses per resident in the United States but a lower average star rating.
The most beauty-treatment-obsessed cities
Next, we looked at cities with the most (and highest-rated) businesses focused on beauty treatments. This category includes makeup artists, nail salons, tanning salons, skincare clinics, and even teeth-whitening services.
When it comes to beauty treatments, Austin and Salt Lake City top the list, with San Diego, California coming in third place. Of the top three cities, Salt Lake City has the highest number of beauty treatment businesses per resident, but Austin has the highest-rated services out of all 50 cities analyzed. San Diego strikes a solid balance of ample beauty treatment businesses that maintain solid consumer reviews.
The best cities for spa lovers
We also analyzed spa-related businesses on a local level to determine the best cities for lovers of spa treatments. These businesses included massage parlors, medical spas, and laser hair removal services, to name a few.
The best cities for spa lovers include previous winners, such as Buffalo and Salt Lake City in first and third place, respectively, but also include a new top contender: Raleigh, North Carolina. Buffalo maintains the most spa-related businesses per resident across all cities, with Raleigh close behind. Still, Salt Lake City’s spa treatments are particularly high-rated out of the top three cities.
Whether or not your city has an abundance of highly-rated beauty businesses, we all need a beauty-related service once in a while. Connect to the best local beauty professionals using StyleSeat to help support small beauty businesses in your community.
Methodology: We compiled a list of beauty-related Google Business categories and collected the number of business listings and the star rating of each business per category in the 50 largest U.S. cities.
We then calculated the number of beauty businesses per 100,000 residents per city and the average star rating of each business category. Finally, we combined each city’s data into a weighted ranking formula to determine the most beauty-obsessed cities.
Business categories included:
- Skincare Clinic
- Barber Shop
- Barber Supply Store
- Beauty Salon
- Beauty Supply Store
- Day Spa
- Medical Spa
- Massage Therapist
- Hairdresser
- Hair Salon
- Hair Extension Technician
- Hair Removal Service
- Electrolysis Hair Removal Service
- Waxing Hair Removal Service
- Laser Hair Removal Service
- Hair Replacement Service
- Hair Transplantation Clinic
- Makeup Artist
- Permanent Makeup Clinic
- Nail Salon
- Perfume Store
- Tanning Salon
- Teeth Whitening Service
Full dataset:
