Cosmetology isn't the most popular major in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #226 in popularity out of 395 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 5 schools in North Carolina to determine which ones were the best for cosmetology students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 2,824 degrees in cosmetology annually.
The cosmetology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Cosmetology rankings. For our Best Overall Cosmetology School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Cosmetology Schools in North Carolina list, to help you choose the best school for you.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
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Best Schools for Cosmetology in North Carolina
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the cosmetology degrees they offer, see the list below.
Central Carolina Community College is a wonderful choice for students interested in a degree in cosmetology. Central Carolina Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the distant town of Sanford. This college ranks 44th out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were about 48 cosmetology students who graduated with this degree at Central Carolina Community College in the most recent data year. Cosmetology degree recipients from Central Carolina Community College get an earnings boost of around $6,801 above the typical income of cosmetology majors.
It is difficult to beat Central Piedmont Community College if you want to pursue a degree in cosmetology. Located in the city of Charlotte, Central Piedmont Community College is a public college with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #572 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Central Piedmont Community College is a great college overall.
There were about 34 cosmetology students who graduated with this degree at Central Piedmont Community College in the most recent data year.
Every student pursuing a degree in cosmetology needs to look into Fayetteville Technical Community College. Located in the city of Fayetteville, FTCC is a public college with a large student population. This college ranks 42nd out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were approximately 58 cosmetology students who graduated with this degree at FTCC in the most recent year we have data available.
Wake Technical Community College is a great option for students pursuing a degree in cosmetology. Wake Technical Community College is a fairly large public college located in the large suburb of Raleigh. A Best Colleges rank of #461 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Wake Technical Community College is a great college overall.
There were about 47 cosmetology students who graduated with this degree at Wake Technical Community College in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the cosmetology major at Wake Technical Community College make $5,986 more than the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the suburb of Salisbury. This college ranks 50th out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were approximately 100 cosmetology students who graduated with this degree at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in the most recent year we have data available. Cosmetology degree recipients from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College get an earnings boost of around $5,278 over the typical income of cosmetology graduates.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The cosmetology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Cosmetology rankings. For our Best Overall Cosmetology School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
