Manicurists and Pedicurists
Clean and shape customers' fingernails and toenails. May polish or decorate nails.
152,770 people do this job in the US. $35,760 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 12%
- 6%
- 82%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 3%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 12%. Today's estimate: 12%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 18 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extend nails using powder, solvent, and paper forms attached to tips of customers' fingers to support and shape artificial nails.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 18% | 50 min25 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain supply inventories and records of client services.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 21 min13 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Assess the condition of clients' hands, remove dead skin, and massage hands.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 17 min8 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Clean and sanitize tools and work environment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 13 min4 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Treat nails to repair or improve strength and resilience by wrapping.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 21 min13 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Apply undercoat and clear or colored polish onto nails with brush.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 10 min4 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Use rotary abrasive wheels to shape and smooth nails or artificial extensions.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min7 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Decorate clients' nails by piercing or attaching ornaments or designs.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepare nail cuticles with water and oil, using cuticle knives to push back cuticles and scissors or nippers to trim cuticles.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Shape and smooth ends of nails, using scissors, files, or emery boards.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove previously applied nail polish, using liquid remover and swabs.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 7 min3 min to 10 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepare customers' nails in soapy water, using swabs, files, and orange sticks.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).