Original research · updated 2026-08-20
The Permanent Jewelry Price Index
We read the websites of 1245 permanent jewelry studios across all 50 states and DC. Only 24% of them publish a price.
76%
of studios won't tell you a price before you walk in
944 of the 1245 studios we checked publish no starting price anywhere on their own site. Permanent jewelry is usually priced per inch of chain and varies by metal, which is a real reason to quote in person — but it leaves most customers unable to compare anything before booking an appointment.
For context, 26% offer online booking and 81% publish opening hours, so this is specific to price rather than a general absence of information.
What the published prices say
Based on the 301 studios that do publish one. These are starting prices — the cheapest chain on offer — not what an average customer pays.
- Lowest
- $15
- 25th percentile
- $40
- Median
- $65
- 75th percentile
- $90
Distribution of starting prices
- Under $3050
- $30–4956
- $50–7468
- $75–9963
- $100–14934
- $150+30
Median starting price by state
Only states where at least 8 studios publish a price are shown — below that a median is noise rather than a finding. Sample sizes are given for every row, and they are small: treat the ordering as indicative, not precise.
| State | Median | Range | Studios |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | $85 | $20–$300 | 33 |
| Florida | $80 | $25–$265 | 16 |
| North Carolina | $75 | $40–$249 | 10 |
| Washington | $75 | $25–$100 | 8 |
| Texas | $70 | $20–$200 | 25 |
| South Carolina | $66 | $30–$115 | 9 |
| Colorado | $65 | $15–$120 | 17 |
| Missouri | $60 | $20–$90 | 9 |
| Ohio | $55 | $40–$275 | 9 |
| New York | $50 | $19–$150 | 15 |
| Tennessee | $48 | $30–$225 | 11 |
| Pennsylvania | $45 | $16–$265 | 16 |
| Utah | $25 | $25–$100 | 9 |
How this was measured
Studios were identified through Google Places across US metros and their suburbs, then each candidate was checked against its own website. A studio is only in this directory if its website advertises permanent jewelry, or its business name states it outright.
Prices were read from those same websites on or before 2026-08-20. Where a studio quotes per inch of chain, the per-inch figure is used; where it quotes a finished piece, that is used. Both are recorded as the studio's starting price.
What this is not: it is not what the average customer pays. It is the cheapest advertised entry point, from the subset of studios willing to publish one — a self-selecting group that may skew cheaper, since a studio confident it is competitively priced has more reason to say so.
Using this data
These figures are free to cite and republish with attribution to The Permanent Jewelry Guide. If you are writing about the category and want a cut of the data we haven't published — by metro, by chain metal, by studio type — email hello@thepermanentjewelryguide.com and we will put it together.
We recompute these numbers on every build, so the figures on this page always match the directory rather than a snapshot taken once and left to rot.
What is the average cost of permanent jewelry in the US?
Across the 301 studios that publish a starting price, the median is $65, with the middle half falling between $40 and $90. These are starting prices — the cheapest chain a studio offers — so a finished piece in solid gold is usually well above the median.
Why don't most permanent jewelry studios list prices?
76% of the 1245 studios we checked publish no price at all on their own website. Pricing is usually per inch of chain and varies by metal, so many studios prefer to quote in person — but it means most customers cannot compare before booking.
Does permanent jewelry cost more in some states?
There is real variation in published starting prices between states, but the samples are small — most states have fewer than 20 studios publishing a price — so treat state-level differences as indicative rather than precise. Chain metal moves the final price far more than geography does.