Salary of a body piercer?

Question

I am only 17 now but when I turn 18 I want to be a piecer. I'm taking CPR/AED/First Aid and Bloodborne Pathogens classes until then and obviously just studying before I start apprenticing next year.
But everyone I talk to or any information I look up about the salary/price of piercers just says "Most piercers get paid about the price of a piercing and tips. There is not usually a set rate of hourly or yearly income."
But nobody explains what that that might be. This is a question to most body piercers already, not people who are just guessing: How much money do you make per month on AVERAGE. All I want is to be able to pay my rent when I move out, so if I can do that I'll be happy haha :)

Oh and I do know that apprenticing usually does not pay. I am referring to when I am DONE my apprenticeship :)

Anyone? :)

Answer 1

Do you get the feeling they are avoiding trying to depress you with the rather low figures a piercer gets?

I teach the CPR/BPT classes you mention and get to talk to a lot of piercers and tattoo artists.

Part of the reason you are not getting an answer is because there simply are too many variables. Few piercers get a steady salary- they earn a portion of the work they bring in. It will be good on a good week, miserable on a slow week.

Work for a good shop with a lot of business and you can earn 20-25K- out of which you often have to pay shop rental, insurance, supplies, etc. A take home of 10-15K seems more likely.

Work for yourself and only pierce a few people a week and you'll make... a few bucks here and there.

The piercers who make money almost always do other things as well- retail sales, tattoos, jewelery making, hair styling, manicures or pedicures, massage... Or, they do piercing on the side and hold a different job to pay the rent. (This is apparently the most common way they start.)

I am a bit surprised, however. If this interests you, you should already have a good relationship with a few others who do it and can be advising you about a good school, good shops, general income, etc.

(By the way... "I'm taking classes..." You do know that the CPR/First Aid class takes only 6 hours and the Bloodborne Pathogens class is only 1.5-2, right? You can knock them off in a day easily! Check your local American Red Cross for a schedule.)

Answer 2

Haha hmmm, well a lot of people get body piercings but I don't think its a very good paying job. If you love to help people with piercing their bodies, then do it! It's something you love. But you might need another job on the side of that, depending on how many hours you are working already with the body piercing. It's a good job for not going to college, also, i think, because you don't really need any education.