Home / Illinois / Esthetics

How to Start an Esthetics Studio in Illinois: Licenses, Costs & Requirements

Esthetics is the 750 hour license at the center of Illinois skin care, and its definition does double duty: it puts facials, waxing and lash work inside one credential, while the Department's prohibited practices list fences the advanced device and injection menu out of the treatment room entirely. The studio plan follows from those two documents.

Researched from Illinois state sources. Our guides are free. We may earn a commission when you use a partner service, at no additional cost to you.

The regulator: the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation

An Illinois esthetics studio answers to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, through its Division of Professional Regulation, under the Barber, Cosmetology, Esthetics, Hair Braiding, and Nail Technology Act of 1985 (225 ILCS 410) and the rules at Title 68, Part 1175 of the Illinois Administrative Code. Esthetics is Article IIIA of the Act. The Department licenses estheticians and esthetics teachers, and registers the premises, because an esthetics salon holds the same certificate of registration as every other salon and shop under the Act.

Two documents draw the esthetics map. The first is the definition at Section 3A-1: esthetics means cleansing, massaging and treating the skin, applying make-up or eyelashes, and the related hair removal and skin services the section lists, which is why a single license supports a facial, waxing and lash menu. The second is the Department's statement on prohibited practices, issued with the Department of Public Health, which names the services that constitute the practice of medicine and sit outside esthetician and cosmetologist scope: botox and botulinum toxin injections, collagen injections, colonics, liposuction, microblading, microneedling and radio frequency, with chemical peels prohibited beyond the superficial level. A studio's service menu is legal or not depending on which side of that list each treatment falls, and the medspa memo the two departments updated in October 2025 is required reading before adding any device based service.

Illinois esthetics studio requirements at a glance

Practitioner licenses: the esthetician license and its scope

The esthetician license takes 750 hours. Section 3A-2 of the Act and Section 1175.700 of the rules qualify an applicant who is at least 16 years old and has completed 750 hours of esthetics training at a licensed school, over not less than 18 weeks and not more than 4 consecutive years. The license fee is the standard $30 set by rule, and the state examination fee is $175, offered in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese since October 1, 2026. Estheticians licensed in another state apply by endorsement for $45. A cosmetologist's license also covers the full esthetics scope, which gives a studio two hiring pools for the same treatment rooms; a nail technician's license does not reach skin services at all.

Renewal runs with cosmetology: esthetician licenses expire September 30 of odd numbered years regardless of issue date, renewal costs $50 for the two year cycle, and renewal requires 10 hours of continuing education, one hour of sexual harassment prevention training plus nine subject hours. At the first renewal after original issuance, profession specific coursework is not required, though the sexual harassment prevention hour applies from that first renewal, and a one time hour of domestic violence and sexual assault awareness training falls due at the first renewal carrying continuing education. A lapsed license restores for $50 plus lapsed renewal fees, capped at $200. The scope discipline belongs in the same conversation as renewal, because it is where studios actually get in trouble: build the menu from Section 3A-1 outward, treat superficial peels as the ceiling for chemical work, and refer injections, microneedling and device treatments past that ceiling to medical providers. Microblading has its own separate answer entirely, in the Illinois microblading guide: it is body art under the Department of Public Health, not an esthetics service.

The establishment credential: the salon registration

The premises credential is the certificate of registration under Subpart M of the Part 1175 rules, held as an esthetics salon. Illinois makes it unlawful to own or operate an esthetics salon without one. The fee is $40 for the location, and one registration covers the address: an esthetics studio inside a full service salon operates under that salon's registration, and a standalone studio holds its own. Treatment rooms, waxing rooms and lash rooms all sit under the same single registration, because Illinois registers the salon, not the service lines inside it.

All certificates of registration expire November 30 of even numbered years, renewal is $40 for the two year cycle, calculated at $20 a year, and the renewal window opens in the two months before the date. Esthetician licenses inside expire September 30 of the odd years instead, so the studio alternates renewal seasons. A change of name or address costs $20, a reprinted certificate $20, and a lapsed registration restores for $40 with the business's federal employer identification number and any assumed name certificate in the filing. The registration holder answers for the premises, including sanitation in treatment rooms, where single use items, disinfection and laundry are the substance of an inspection.

Forming your LLC: the $150 filing and the $75 annual report

Most Illinois esthetics studio owners form a limited liability company, and Illinois makes formation cheap and the yearly upkeep unforgiving. Articles of Organization, Form LLC-5.5, are filed with the Secretary of State's Department of Business Services for $150, with standard processing running about ten business days; 24 hour expedited service brings the total to $250. The LLC needs a registered agent with an Illinois street address, and Illinois requires no newspaper publication to form, so the $150 is the whole state formation bill.

The follow-on duty is the annual report. Every LLC files one with the Secretary of State for $75, due before the first day of the anniversary month of formation. File more than 60 days late and a $100 penalty attaches; leave it unfiled long enough and the Secretary of State administratively dissolves the LLC, a serious problem for an entity holding a lease, a salon registration and a membership client base. Adopt a written operating agreement even though it is never filed; esthetics studios often run on memberships and prepaid packages, and the agreement is what governs that prepaid money between members.

Trading under a name: the assumed name split

An esthetics studio rarely trades under its legal entity name, and Illinois splits the assumed name filing by structure. Sole proprietors and general partnerships, and professional corporations, register an assumed business name with the county clerk in the county where the studio operates, under the Assumed Business Name Act (805 ILCS 405). Corporations and LLCs skip the county and register with the Secretary of State, an LLC by adopting an assumed name on Form LLC-1.20. Filing at the wrong office leaves the name unregistered.

The county route carries a step the state route does not: newspaper publication. In Cook County the registration fee is $50, the application is signed and notarized, and the owner must publish the legal notice in a local newspaper once a week for three consecutive weeks, starting within 15 calendar days of registration. Proof of publication, a notarized certificate with the original newspaper clipping, is due back to the Clerk within 50 days, and missing that deadline voids the registration. The Secretary of State route has no publication step, and its fee is prorated on a five year cycle, $150 in a year ending in 0 or 5 down to $30 in a year ending in 4 or 9, so an LLC adopting an assumed name in 2026 pays $120.

Getting your EIN

Your Employer Identification Number is the one free, fast step in an Illinois opening. Apply on the IRS website and the number issues immediately; every LLC and corporation needs one for banking and payroll, and a sole proprietor needs one once they have employees. Illinois paperwork keys off it: the MyTax Illinois business registration, the unemployment insurance account, and a salon registration restoration all run under the EIN. Get it after the entity exists and before the first state application.

Sales tax: services are not taxed, retail is, and the entity has its own tax

Illinois taxes the shelf, not the treatment bed. The Retailers' Occupation Tax falls on retail sales of tangible personal property, and a facial, waxing or lash service is not a retail sale of property, so the service ticket carries no sales tax anywhere in the state. Esthetics studios sell serious retail, though: the home regimen an esthetician prescribes after a facial is a taxable product sale, and memberships need care, because the product portion of a bundled membership is taxable while the service portion is not. Inventory bought for resale is purchased without tax so the tax lands once, on the sale to the client. Products consumed in the treatment itself sit in the Service Occupation Tax zone, where tax can apply to the cost of goods transferred as part of a service; the Department of Revenue's ST-1 instructions work through the line.

The rate is built by address. The state base is 6.25 percent, and local taxes stack on top: county and municipal shares, home rule taxes, and transit taxes in the Chicago region, which together push the combined rate in Chicago above 10 percent. The Department's Tax Rate Finder in MyTax Illinois gives the rate for the studio's exact address. Register before the first retail sale on Form REG-1 through MyTax Illinois, which covers both the sales tax account and employer withholding, and report on Form ST-1. The entity layer adds the Personal Property Replacement Tax: an LLC taxed as a partnership pays 1.5 percent of net income under the Illinois Income Tax Act, on top of the members' flat 4.95 percent individual income tax.

Room rent in Illinois: the classification test decides

Esthetics runs on rented treatment rooms in many states, and Illinois law works against the model. There is no room rental license and no registration category for a rented room. Section 212 of the Unemployment Insurance Act (820 ILCS 405/212) treats a worker as an independent contractor only when the worker is free from the studio's control, the service is outside the usual course of the studio's business or outside all of its places of business, and the worker runs an independently established trade. An esthetician renting a room inside your studio does your studio's usual work on your studio's premises, which fails the second condition however the agreement is drafted, and the Department of Employment Security applies the test in audits.

The registration layer points the same way: treatments happen under your salon's certificate of registration, and the registration holder answers for the premises. An esthetician who wants to run an independent practice needs premises registered in their own right, which is the structure the Illinois salon suite guide works through, and the usual destination for senior estheticians leaving employment. Inside a conventional studio, the defensible Illinois model is employment.

Hiring staff: withholding, unemployment, and wages

The first hire triggers the employer stack. Register with the Department of Employment Security within 30 days of starting business as an employer; liability for unemployment insurance generally begins once you pay $1,500 in wages in a calendar quarter or employ someone during 20 weeks of a year. For 2026, contributions apply to the first $14,250 of each employee's wages, and a new employer pays 3.35 percent until it earns its own experience rate, which for 2026 ranges from 0.75 percent to 7.05 percent including the fund building rate. Reports run quarterly on Form UI-3/40 through MyTax Illinois, due April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31. Employers withhold Illinois income tax at a flat 4.95 percent and report on Form IL-941, report every new hire to the Illinois New Hire Directory within 20 days, and carry workers' compensation coverage.

The wage floor is $15.00 an hour statewide for workers 18 and older, with a tipped cash wage of $9.00 where tips bring the total to the full rate, and overtime at one and one half times the regular rate after 40 hours. Estheticians are frequently paid commission against a book, and commission pay still has to clear the minimum wage for hours worked across a pay period, including the unpaid gaps between appointments that studios forget to count. The Paid Leave for All Workers Act adds 40 hours of paid leave a year for any reason, earned at one hour per 40 hours worked. Chicago raises both bars, covered next.

The local layer: Chicago, Cook County, and everywhere else

The state registers the studio; Chicago licenses it again. Every Chicago business takes a city license from the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, and beauty premises like esthetics studios operate under a Limited Business License even though their practitioners hold state licenses; the city's general exemption for state licensed professionals does not cover these premises businesses. The Limited Business License currently costs $500 for a two year term. Esthetics studios often take small upper floor spaces, so confirm the zoning allows the use before signing: the Department's licensing materials flag some beauty businesses as special uses in some districts.

Chicago labor law is the bigger local cost. The city minimum wage is $17.05 an hour for employers with four or more employees, with a tipped cash wage of $12.96, effective July 1, 2026 and adjusted every July 1 by inflation or 2.5 percent, whichever is lower. Chicago's leave ordinance adds up to five days of paid leave and five days of paid sick and safe leave, accruing at one hour per 35 hours worked, on top of the state act. Suburban Cook County sets $15.40 an hour and a $9.25 tipped wage in municipalities that have not opted out. The rest of Illinois runs on the state floor of $15.00, with zoning and any general municipal business license as the local layer.

Insurance and recurring costs

Neither the Act nor the Part 1175 rules conditions a salon registration on a bond or an insurance filing. Insurance enters through the lease and through the service itself: landlords require general liability coverage with the landlord named as an additional insured, and a studio performing chemical services on skin carries professional liability as a practical necessity, with product liability for the retail lines it sells. Property coverage protects treatment equipment and stock, and employers must carry workers' compensation coverage as a legal duty.

Recurring state costs are biennial and light: esthetician renewals at $50 each with 10 hours of continuing education, the salon registration at $40 every two years, the $75 LLC annual report, and quarterly filings. The calendar alternates by design: practitioner licenses in odd years, the premises registration in even years, which keeps a small studio from ever facing both in the same autumn.

Your Illinois renewal calendar

• Every 2 years, expiring September 30 of odd numbered years: esthetician licenses renew at $50 each, with 10 hours of continuing education per esthetician
• Every 2 years, expiring November 30 of even numbered years: the salon registration renews at $40; renewal opens in the two preceding months
• Every year, before the first day of the formation anniversary month: LLC annual report, $75
• Every quarter, due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31: unemployment contributions and wage reports on Form UI-3/40 through MyTax Illinois
• Every quarter: employer withholding reported on Form IL-941 at the flat 4.95 percent rate
• Within 20 days of each hire: new hire report to the Illinois New Hire Directory
• On the Department of Revenue's schedule in MyTax Illinois: sales tax returns on Form ST-1 covering retail product sales
• Every July 1: Chicago and Cook County minimum wage adjustments take effect; the state wage is reviewed each January
• On any move: update the salon registration for the new address, a $20 change fee, before operating there

Official Illinois sources for this guide

• Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Cosmetology: esthetician licensing, the $175 examination fee, exam languages, and salon registration
• Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and Department of Public Health, medspa memo: the prohibited practices list and scope boundaries for estheticians and cosmetologists
• Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, license renewal information: restoration fees and steps for lapsed licenses
• Cook County Clerk, assumed business name registration: the $50 fee, publication, and the 50 day proof deadline
• Department of Revenue, ST-1 instructions: the 6.25 percent state rate, local tax layers, and the Tax Rate Finder
• Department of Employment Security, 2026 contribution rates: the $14,250 wage base and the 3.35 percent new employer rate
• Department of Labor, Minimum Wage Law: the $15.00 wage, the $9.00 tipped cash wage, and overtime
• City of Chicago, minimum wage: the $17.05 city wage and the $12.96 tipped wage
• Cook County, Minimum Wage Ordinance and regulations: the $15.40 county wage and the $9.25 tipped wage

This guide is general information researched from official Illinois sources, not legal or tax advice. Requirements, fees and forms change; verify the current rules with the agencies linked above before you file, sign or spend.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an esthetician license to own an esthetics studio in Illinois?

No. The premises hold a salon registration from the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, $40 to open and $40 to renew every two years, and every esthetician who treats clients holds a personal esthetician license, or a cosmetology license, which also covers skin services. You need a personal license only if you will treat clients yourself.

How many hours of school does an Illinois esthetician need?

An esthetician completes 750 hours of esthetics training at a licensed school, over not less than 18 weeks and not more than 4 consecutive years, starting at age 16 or older. The state examination fee is $175 and the license fee is $30. Renewal is $50 every two years with 10 hours of continuing education.

What advanced services are outside the Illinois esthetician scope?

The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation treats botox and other injections, collagen injections, colonics, liposuction, microblading, microneedling and radio frequency as the practice of medicine, outside esthetician and cosmetologist scope. Chemical peels are the stated exception at the superficial level only. Services past that line need a medical setting, not a treatment room.

When does an Illinois esthetician license renew?

Esthetician licenses expire September 30 of odd numbered years, regardless of when they were issued, the same date as cosmetologist licenses. Renewal costs $50 for the two year cycle and requires 10 hours of continuing education, one hour of sexual harassment prevention training plus nine subject hours.

Can estheticians rent treatment rooms in my Illinois studio?

Illinois has no room rental license, and Section 212 of the Unemployment Insurance Act treats an esthetician who works in your studio as an employee, because the work is your usual business at your place of business. Renters also practice under your salon registration. An esthetician who wants independence needs premises registered in their own right.

Does a Chicago esthetics studio need a city license too?

Yes. Chicago beauty premises operate under a Limited Business License from the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, currently $500 for a two year term, on top of the state salon registration and practitioner licenses. Chicago also sets a $17.05 minimum wage and its own paid leave rules.