SalariesPersonal Care and Service: pay for 32 occupations, May 2025
The field Personal Care and Service had 3,255,790 jobs in the United States in May 2025, with a median pay of $36,410 a year ($17.51 an hour) across all its occupations.
No occupation in this field matches.
In short
- Highest median pay in this field: Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance, $97,150 a year.
- Lowest: Amusement and Recreation Attendants, $32,150 a year.
- Most jobs: Childcare Workers (518,910), Amusement and Recreation Attendants (397,830) and Recreation Workers (331,490).
- For comparison, the median for all occupations in the country was $50,980 a year.
Sorted by median pay, highest first. "Not published" in the yearly or hourly column means BLS releases only the other one for that occupation.
The field as a whole
Personal Care and Service holds 3,255,790 of the 155,495,730 jobs in the national figures, about 2 in every 100. Its median pay of $36,410 a year is 29% below the median for all occupations ($50,980), which places it number 21 of the 22 fields. Across the whole field, the lowest-paid tenth earned less than $26,430 and the highest-paid tenth more than $61,020; the middle half earned between $30,820 and $46,060. The average was $41,070, 13% above the median.
Inside the field
Inside the field, the best-paid occupation with a published yearly median earns 3.0 times the lowest ($97,150 against $32,150). 4 of the 32 occupations with a yearly median are above the national median of $50,980, and 28 are below it. The occupation in the middle of the field's list is Tour and Travel Guides, at $38,120. Jobs are unevenly spread: the three largest occupations hold 38% of the field's jobs, while the smallest, Motion Picture Projectionists, has 1,480. Pay stretches furthest within Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance, where the highest-paid tenth earn over $167,470 and the lowest-paid tenth under $23,360.
Reading the field
Pay also moves with place. For the field's largest occupation, Childcare Workers, the state medians run from $22,020 in Guam to $47,340 in District of Columbia; its own page has every state. The Bureau of Labor Statistics sorts every occupation into one field by the work done, not by the industry of the employer, so an accountant at a hospital is counted under business and financial operations, not health care.
Questions about this field
What is the highest-paying job in personal care and service?
By published median pay in May 2025: Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance, at $97,150 a year.
Which personal care and service occupation has the most jobs?
Childcare Workers, with 518,910 jobs in the United States.
What is the median pay for personal care and service occupations?
$36,410 a year across the whole field, against $50,980 for all occupations.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Checked in November 2026. Figures are for employees, before tax, and leave out overtime pay and benefits. They are official statistics, not advice or a pay offer; see bls.gov/oes for the original tables.