Groomer pay varies widely by region, salon type, and experience — there's no single national number that applies evenly everywhere. But a few patterns show up consistently across salary trackers and job postings, and they're useful as a rough anchor if you're trying to figure out where you stand.
Groomers just starting out, especially during a training or bather/brusher stage before doing full grooms independently, are usually paid a flat hourly rate with no commission yet. This stage exists to build speed, technique, and confidence before commission-based pay (where slower work directly costs you money) makes sense.
Once a groomer is doing full grooms independently, commission-based or hybrid hourly-vs-commission pay becomes the norm. General salary trackers commonly put average grooming pay somewhere in the low-to-mid $20s per hour once commission and tips are included, though individual salons and job postings show a wide range depending on location and salon type — postings from $18–$31 per hour base plus commission are common in current listings.
Groomers with advanced skills — hand-scissoring, breed-standard show trims, corrective grooming — can charge and earn meaningfully more, since specialty services command premium pricing that flows through to commission. Experienced stylists in busy salons, or those who've built a loyal client base, routinely out-earn the general average by a wide margin.
Tips are typically separate from the base/commission calculation entirely and go to the groomer directly. In a tool like this one, tips are added on top of whatever your calculated gross pay is for the week — they're not folded into the commission math, and they're not typically split with anyone else in a single-groomer setup.
Averages smooth over enormous variation by region, salon type, and individual client base. A groomer in a high cost-of-living area with a loyal, high-volume client list will often clear well past any published average. The most useful number isn't a national average — it's your own actual week, tracked accurately.
Figures referenced here are general industry ranges drawn from publicly available salary trackers and job postings as a rough anchor, not a guarantee of what any specific employer pays. This page is not affiliated with Petco Holdings, Inc. or any specific employer.