Business phone system for beauty salons

Beauty salons in the United States

County Business Patterns counted 84,176 beauty salons in the U.S. in 2023 (NAICS 812112, Beauty Salons). They employed 391,064 people in mid-March and paid $12.4 billion in annual payroll. The average establishment has 4.6 employees. That is 24.7 establishments for every 100,000 residents.

California has the most (8,733), followed by Florida (7,534), New York (7,124), and Texas (5,740). Relative to population, New Jersey leads with 39.2 per 100,000 residents, and Mississippi has the fewest at 10.3.

Why the phone matters for beauty salons

Salons book appointments by phone and text, and stylists are usually with a client when the phone rings. Missed calls are often missed bookings.

Calls beauty salons commonly handle:

• A client calls to book a cut and color.
• A client calls to move an appointment.
• A bride calls about wedding-party styling.
• The salon calls a client to fill a cancellation.
• A client calls about products.

Texting and after-hours calls

Salons text appointment reminders and confirmations.

Clients often call to book in the evening, so capturing those calls matters.

How big beauty salons are

68.7% of U.S. beauty salons with employees had fewer than five people in March 2023. 87.1% had fewer than ten. Most phone decisions in this industry are made for small teams, where one shared number and sensible routing matter more than a desk phone per person.

Beauty salons by state

Establishment counts for the 51 states (and DC) where Census published a figure, with the rate per 100,000 residents.

Largest metro areas for beauty salons

Census published beauty salon counts for 835 metro and micropolitan areas. The 25 largest:

Phone system pricing for a 5-person beauty salon

The average U.S. beauty salon has 4.6 employees, so the comparison uses a 5-person team. Priced per seat, 5 users would run $150.00 a month on RingCentral RingEX Core and $124.75 on Ooma Office Pro (month-to-month list prices, checked September 28, 2026). Callata comes to $99.00 a month for 5 users ($99 a month with 5 users included, then $20 per additional user), below both.

Over a year, that is $612 less than RingCentral for a beauty salon in the U.S. of that size. Annual contracts lower some competitors' prices, so compare the plan you would actually sign.

How Callata works for beauty salons

For $99 a month, Callata puts a team of up to 5 on one plan ($20 for each person after that): up to 3 local numbers, unlimited inbound calls, a pooled allowance of 1,500 outbound US and Canada minutes per user, browser and cell calling, voicemail transcription with urgency triage, recorded calls with AI summaries and business-hours routing, with E911 on every number.

Texting from a local number requires carrier registration (10DLC), a one-time $49 fee. Porting an existing number is free.

AI agents are optional: an AI receptionist or scheduler can pick up when the team is busy or closed, take a message, send a text or email, or transfer the call. They draw on prepaid AI minutes ($0.25/minute), disclose that they are AI, and outbound AI calls require prior consent and are limited to 8am–9pm.