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I just read in June of this year the average massage therapist makes about $50,000 a year in Honolulu. Is it possible to get by on that in Honolulu as a single woman?
Well, if you truly are going to make $50K a year doing massage therapy (is this actual massage therapy or just as a cover for other activities?) then you could get by on that amount in Honolulu as a single person. That'd be roughly $4K a month. Figure half that for rent, half the remainder for other bills and maybe $250 a week for eating out and other things. Although, that assumes you'll be making the $50K to begin with.
$50k is actually less than $4k a month after you figure in all taxes. More like $3.1k
Tax TypeMarginal
Tax RateEffective
Tax RateTax
AmountFederal25.00%11.09%$5,547FICA7.65%7.65%$3,82 5State7.90%6.18%$3,091Local0.00%0.00%$0Total Income Taxes$12,463Income After Taxes$37,537
how do massage therapists get paid? is it similar to hair salons where you rent out a seat? is 50k after all costs? Are you self employed? self employment taxes are higher than a normal W-2 employee. What about medical insurance? you'll pay for the entire cost out of pocket unless you're a W-2 employee.
50k is ok as a single person. you'll likely want to rent a studio for $1k or share a 2br or something. I posted in other threads that I thought min $60k is what you want to be able to have a fairly comfortable living and still put aside a decent amount of savings for retirement. At $50k, you probably need to watch your spending a bit better and look for opportunities to make more money to put away for savings or emergencies
I'm a massage therapist/ esthetician. We are either independent contractors or employees. Independent contractors set their own prices and business standards. I will want to be an employee upon arrival.
Employees get paid per service. Here in Virginia currently I make roughly $11 per half hour before adding in upgrades. (Ie hot stones or returning clients)
I'm guessing Hawaii I would see a lot more people at a decent spa and working full time I don't see why I wouldn't clear 50k a year. Did I mention being tipped per service.
New question! It seems like Honolulu and DC are almost evenly priced for housing. So I imagine my hardship would come from having things like food or whatever shipped from the mainland or maybe electricity bills. Am I wrong in my assumptions?
I'm a massage therapist/ esthetician. We are either independent contractors or employees. Independent contractors set their own prices and business standards. I will want to be an employee upon arrival.
Employees get paid per service. Here in Virginia currently I make roughly $11 per half hour before adding in upgrades. (Ie hot stones or returning clients)
I'm guessing Hawaii I would see a lot more people at a decent spa and working full time I don't see why I wouldn't clear 50k a year. Did I mention being tipped per service.
New question! It seems like Honolulu and DC are almost evenly priced for housing. So I imagine my hardship would come from having things like food or whatever shipped from the mainland or maybe electricity bills. Am I wrong in my assumptions?
You are not wrong in the assumption. Your food costs will likely be a higher. How much higher is up for debate on this forum. If you buy groceries primarily on sale here, you may come closer to mainland grocery pricing (at regular price).
Electricity costs are definitely going to be higher, Hawaii has the highest cost in the nation at 2.5x the national average. So you can probably take your current electric bill and multiply it by 250% to get a rough idea of what it will be like in hawaii. Gas and other costs are among the highest in the nation as well. Keep in mind that hawaii has to import almost everything, whether by boat or plane.
You might want to do more research on hawaii and not assume you'll make around 50k/year. Hawaii has a lot of 3rd world country immigrants, who take jobs in nail salons, hair stylists, cosmetology, and as massage therapists. High number of immigrants into the market could drive the wages down, as there are more people willing to work for less. But Hawaii is also a tourist destination, so who knows, maybe massage parlor workers make more money because the demand is high.
I'm a massage therapist/ esthetician. We are either independent contractors or employees. Independent contractors set their own prices and business standards. I will want to be an employee upon arrival.
Employees get paid per service. Here in Virginia currently I make roughly $11 per half hour before adding in upgrades. (Ie hot stones or returning clients)
I'm guessing Hawaii I would see a lot more people at a decent spa and working full time I don't see why I wouldn't clear 50k a year. Did I mention being tipped per service.
New question! It seems like Honolulu and DC are almost evenly priced for housing. So I imagine my hardship would come from having things like food or whatever shipped from the mainland or maybe electricity bills. Am I wrong in my assumptions?
At $22 per hour and 8 hours a day, that'd come out to about $42K before taxes. Unless a spa schedules one client after another for you, you may not be getting the 8 hours a day? Also, if they have you as a full time employee, they'd be required to provide health insurance, so they may only schedule you as a part time worker or have you be an 'independent contractor'. Although, if they're telling you when to show up and what to do, then that's not exactly an independent contractor and they can fall afoul of the IRS.
There's a lot of folks willing to work for less in order to live in Hawaii. A lot of them are massage therapists, but maybe you'll find an employer willing to pay mainland wages.
I suggest that you concentrate your job search in the high end resorts on the coast north of Kona. All of the resorts offer spa services, so perhaps you could get hired on there. I have no idea how much they get paid, though.
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