How to start a dog grooming business in 2026

In the US, about $9,050 to $53,000 for a one-groomer salon in our dog grooming business plan's itemized ranges — equipment, the space, insurance, licenses, supplies, software and a few months of working capital. A home salon costs far less where zoning allows it. A mobile business swaps the space for a van: one startup guide puts a van with its build-out at $25,000 to $100,000, and new turnkey vans start around $115,000 to $130,000.

Start with the four things every groom passes through, then add as the book fills. Day one: a professional tub (about $730 to $1,850 for most stainless models on sale in 2026), a sturdy table — a hydraulic or electric one, $1,229 to $2,195 at PetLift, saves your back over a career — a high-velocity dryer, and your clippers, blades, shears, brushes, combs and a nail grinder, plus shampoo, towels, a grooming loop and a pet first-aid kit. Once you're busy: kennels or crates for dogs waiting to be picked up, a second dryer and spare blades so one dog never waits for a cooled clipper. In a salon, the room needs hot water and a drain with a hair trap; a mobile groomer buys all of it built into a van — one startup guide puts a van with its build-out at $25,000 to $100,000, and new turnkey vans start around $115,000. Buy the table and the clippers you'll use every day; the rest can start modest.

In the US, general liability with animal bailee cover. General liability pays when someone else is hurt or their property is damaged — a client slipping on a wet floor — but a standard policy excludes the dogs in your care, so the cut ear or the fall from the table needs bailee cover, often sold as care, custody and control. Add commercial auto the day you groom from a van, workers' compensation once you hire where your state requires it, and a business owner's policy if you want the salon's equipment covered too. Insureon's medians for pet groomers are $50 a month for general liability ($598 a year), $80 for a business owner's policy, $88 for workers' comp and $245 for a mobile groomer's commercial auto (July 2025), and one specialist pet-care insurer starts at about $295 a year. Ask a licensed agent what your state and your landlord require before the first dog.

It depends on dogs per day and how many clients rebook. The average US groom costs about $85, and a careful one-on-one salon grooms about four to five dogs a day per groomer, so one groomer's book of regulars can gross well above a staff groomer's pay. Rent, insurance and supplies come out of that, and many solo pet-care businesses are part time — most took in under $25,000 in 2023.

It depends on the dogs. A cage-free salon in Atlanta grooms about four to five dogs a day per groomer; some groomers count in units by breed — a Chihuahua is one, a doodle six — and aim for 14 to 20 units a day. Mobile groomers fit fewer around the driving.

None by law on the state lists we read — Texas, California and Washington license no groomer — though Colorado licenses the grooming shop or van and a contractor groomer, and Iowa licenses a kennel that grooms. Most groomers learn under an experienced groomer, at a grooming school or through an apprenticeship, and many take a voluntary certification. Los Angeles County is an exception: a groomer can't work unsupervised there without certification, grooming school plus a year's experience, or a one-year apprenticeship (the City of West Hollywood has the same rule), and Colorado licenses the grooming facility. The training routes, the certifications and what each costs are in how to become a dog groomer. Check your state and city before you open.

It can be: mobile groomers typically charge $15 to $25 more per dog than a salon and have no rent. But they groom fewer dogs a day around the driving, the van is the biggest cost — a new turnkey van starts around $115,000 — and a breakdown stops the income until it's fixed. Commercial auto insurance adds about $245 a month at the median.

Fewer dogs a day, a large van payment, fuel, and a mechanical breakdown that cancels your whole day. You also need a legal place for the wash water — many cities require it to go to the sanitary sewer, never a storm drain — and in Connecticut and Colorado the van itself needs a grooming facility license.

Where prices and pay are highest. For animal caretakers, the occupation groomers are counted in, the highest state medians in 2025 on O*NET's state pages were in the District of Columbia ($44,210), Washington ($40,570), Hawaii ($40,130) and Massachusetts ($39,650). Big-city grooms also cost more than small-town ones — often a good deal more in places like New York City.

Curly and doodle coats, and any badly matted or anxious dog. Price guides put poodle and doodle grooms at the top of the range even for small dogs, and one Missouri groomer counts every doodle as her biggest booking, whatever its size. Behavior matters as much as coat — a small, nervous dog can take longer than a calm large one — so put the matting and behavior surcharge on your price list.

In the US, usually not a license for the groomer, but often one for the business. Connecticut requires a $200 grooming facility license from its Department of Agriculture, vans and trailers included; Colorado licenses grooming facilities for $400 a year, mobile groomers included; and New York City requires a Small Animal Grooming Establishment Permit. Everywhere, add your city's business license and, for a home salon, its zoning approval. Check your state's agriculture department and your city before you open.

In the US it turns on zoning before anything else: Anne Arundel County, Maryland, made pet grooming a conditional home occupation in July 2025, while King County, Washington, says most pet businesses can't run as a home occupation at all — so ask your city or county's planning office whether customers' dogs may come and go, and whether you need a home-occupation permit. Then the room: hot water, drainage with a hair trap, ventilation and a washable floor, with a professional tub ($730 to $1,850 on sale) and a table. Register the business, take the free EIN, and buy liability insurance with animal bailee cover before the first dog. Check your state too — Connecticut and Colorado license the grooming facility wherever it is.

Groom for someone else first — a salon, a vet or a mobile groomer — until you can handle any coat, and build the book of regulars you'll take with you. Then start in a rented room or a home salon where zoning allows, with a used tub and table instead of a $25,000-to-$100,000 van, and let rebooking fill the calendar before you spend on anything else. Our dog grooming business plan's low end for a one-groomer salon is $9,050, and a home salon costs less than that.

Illinois's Department of Agriculture licenses pet shops, kennel operators, dog day care operators and other animal-care facilities — $350 an application for each license type — and groomers aren't on that list, so a grooming-only salon may need no state license while one that also boards dogs or runs day care needs the matching one. Confirm the category with the state's animal welfare bureau, then your city's business license and zoning, the free EIN, and liability insurance with animal bailee cover. Check your city's rules too.

Rebook every client before they leave, and be easy for a new pet parent to find and trust: a Google Business Profile with photos and reviews, a website with your services, prices by size and the area you cover, and introductions to local vets, walkers and trainers. Zarla builds the website from one sentence, with your services, an inquiry form and a map, lets you add your prices and online booking in chat, and shows your Google rating and reviews on it once you connect your Google Business Profile.