Behavioral Health Industry
Statistics2026
Practice and facility counts, how many Americans need mental health and addiction care, who works in the field, where the shortages are, and pay by role — every figure sourced, dated and linked to the agency that published it.
Live Behavioral Health Job Openings
Every other figure on this page comes from a government agency, a peer-reviewed study or a named research firm.
These numbers are ours — aggregated from employer career sites and direct postings, and updated continuously.
How many behavioral health practices and facilities are in the U.S.?
There were 74,126 private-sector behavioral health establishments in the United States in 2024, across the three industries the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses for the field: 46,404 offices of mental health practitioners, 17,556 outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers and 10,166 residential facilities.
That is up about 80% from 41,243 in 2019 — the count has grown by 8% to 15% every single year, and almost all of that growth is private practices.
Annual-average establishment counts, private ownership, NAICS 621330, 621420 and 623220. Source: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Totals are the sum of the three published industry counts.
| Year | Total | Change | Practitioner offices | Outpatient centers | Residential | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 41,243 | — | 21,504 | 11,305 | 8,434 | 605,847 |
| 2020 | 44,624 | +8.2% | 23,808 | 12,106 | 8,710 | 611,778 |
| 2021 | 50,032 | +12.1% | 27,786 | 13,180 | 9,066 | 642,653 |
| 2022 | 56,707 | +13.3% | 32,791 | 14,496 | 9,420 | 685,572 |
| 2023 | 65,167 | +14.9% | 39,421 | 15,943 | 9,803 | 751,189 |
| 2024 | 74,126 | +13.7% | 46,404 | 17,556 | 10,166 | 824,269 |
| State | Establishments | Practitioner offices | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 10,446 | 7,208 | 116,002 |
| Florida | 5,180 | 3,740 | 46,000 |
| New York | 4,446 | 2,942 | 53,858 |
| Texas | 4,326 | 3,238 | 31,417 |
| Illinois | 3,005 | 2,272 | 27,402 |
| Pennsylvania | 2,914 | 1,461 | 43,077 |
| Colorado | 2,595 | 2,154 | 19,654 |
| North Carolina | 2,307 | 1,324 | 22,535 |
| Virginia | 2,166 | 1,393 | 17,757 |
| Arizona | 2,076 | 1,076 | 26,586 |
Private establishments and employment, 2024, summed across the three behavioral health industries (BLS QCEW). Establishment counts and employment tell different stories: Texas has the fourth-most establishments but fewer behavioral health jobs than Pennsylvania, Ohio or Massachusetts, where large outpatient and residential providers dominate; Colorado ranks seventh on establishments almost entirely on the strength of private practices.
An establishment is a single physical location, not a business — a 40-clinic group counts 40 times, and a solo therapist with an office counts once.
What these three industries do not include: psychiatrists' offices (BLS files them under offices of physicians), hospital psychiatric units and psychiatric hospitals, school and government services, and clinicians who are self-employed with no payroll.
SAMHSA's treatment-facility survey is a separate, narrower count — see below.
| Year | Substance use facilities | Mental health facilities |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14,010 | 9,050 |
| 2022 | 14,854 | 9,586 |
| 2023 | 14,620 | 9,856 |
| 2024 | 15,953 | 14,091 |
The 2024 National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey covered 21,205 treatment facilities: 15,953 offering substance use treatment and 14,091 offering mental health treatment, 8,839 of them offering both (so the columns overlap). The 2024 jump in mental health facilities, from 9,856 to 14,091, is not explained in the report and probably reflects survey coverage rather than new facilities — SAMHSA itself cautions against comparing counts across facility types. Response rate: 90.4%.
Behavioral Health Market Size & Spending
The best-documented number is actual spending: U.S. mental health and substance use disorder treatment cost $139.6 billion in 2021, up from $40.9 billion in 2000, and rose from 4.5% to 5.5% of all medical services spending — driven, the authors find, by growth in the number of people treated.
Commercial market-size estimates for the U.S. cluster around $88–97 billion.
Each firm's own figure for the year it states. Market.us's global estimate is lower than three U.S.-only estimates — a clear sign the firms define “behavioral health” differently. Read the scope before citing any of them.
Autism services are a market of their own: the U.S. applied behavior analysis market was valued at $3.8 billion in 2023, projected to reach $5.9 billion by 2033 — against a CDC autism prevalence of 1 in 31 eight-year-olds.
Behavioral Health Jobs & Employment
BLS counted 885,660 jobs in May 2025 across offices of mental health practitioners, outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers and residential facilities.
Counselors are the backbone: 223,160 jobs, about one in four.
Nationally, across every kind of employer, there are 491,930 substance abuse, behavioral disorder and mental health counselors.
| Occupation (SOC) | Practitioner offices | Outpatient centers | Residential | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder & Mental Health Counselors 21-1018 | 94,390 | 86,860 | 41,910 | 223,160 |
| Mental Health & Substance Abuse Social Workers 21-1023 | 16,330 | 25,190 | 11,480 | 53,000 |
| Psychiatric Technicians 29-2053 | 23,780 | 13,510 | 13,290 | 50,580 |
| Home Health & Personal Care Aides 31-1120 | 1,770 | 8,060 | 39,000 | 48,830 |
| Social & Human Service Assistants 21-1093 | 5,190 | 21,510 | 20,670 | 47,370 |
| Clinical & Counseling Psychologists 19-3033 | 31,570 | 4,660 | 820 | 37,050 |
| Marriage & Family Therapists 21-1013 | 23,960 | 6,470 | 2,130 | 32,560 |
| Registered Nurses 29-1141 | 2,240 | 13,400 | 13,010 | 28,650 |
| Medical & Health Services Managers 11-9111 | 7,460 | 11,210 | 6,250 | 24,920 |
| Medical Secretaries & Administrative Assistants 43-6013 | 6,880 | 10,710 | 3,610 | 21,200 |
| Nurse Practitioners 29-1171 | 3,370 | 6,300 | 1,560 | 11,230 |
| Psychiatrists 29-1223 | 1,880 | 2,260 | 330 | 4,470 |
| All occupations | 289,980 | 326,260 | 269,420 | 885,660 |
The twelve largest occupations across NAICS 621330, 621420 and 623220; totals are the sum of the three published industry tables. The settings employ very different teams: psychologists work almost entirely in private practices (31,570 of 37,050), residential facilities run on aides and technicians, and outpatient centers carry the most social workers and nurses. These are BLS occupation titles, not advertised job titles — BLS has no occupation for a behavior analyst (BCBA), registered behavior technician or peer support specialist. OEWS counts wage and salary jobs only, so self-employed clinicians are not in these numbers.
Across all occupations BLS projects 3.5% growth from 2025 to 2035.
Nearly every behavioral health occupation beats it: marriage and family therapists +13.5%, clinical and counseling psychologists +11.7%, mental health and substance abuse social workers +10.3%, psychiatrists +7.2% and social and human service assistants +7.4%.
Psychiatric aides (+1.9%) are the one exception.
Projection counts include the self-employed, so they run higher than the OEWS job counts above.
HRSA National Center for Health Workforce Analysis projections for 2023–2038, released December 2025, in full-time equivalents. These shortages are measured against today's use of care; counting all unmet need, HRSA says 136,350 more psychologists would be required by 2038.
Who Needs Care & Who Provides It
61.5 million U.S. adults — 23.4% — had a mental illness in 2024, and 48.4 million people aged 12 or older had a substance use disorder.
Most of the gap between need and care is on the addiction side.
Behavioral Health Salaries by Role
National pay from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 — the same release our salary pages use.
Each row is one BLS occupation across all employers.
The bar is the 25th-to-90th-percentile range; the notch is the median.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions the sourced data on this page can actually answer — nothing beyond it.
01How many behavioral health businesses are in the U.S.?
There were 74,126 private-sector behavioral health establishments in the United States in 2024, summing three BLS industries: 46,404 offices of mental health practitioners (therapists, counselors, psychologists and other non-physician practices), 17,556 outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers, and 10,166 residential mental health and substance abuse facilities.
That is up from 41,243 in 2019, an increase of about 80%.
Source: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.
02How many mental health and addiction treatment facilities are there?
SAMHSA's 2024 National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey counted 21,205 treatment facilities: 15,953 offering substance use treatment and 14,091 offering mental health treatment, with 8,839 offering both.
This is a narrower count than the BLS establishment figure because it covers treatment facilities, not solo and group private practices.
03How many Americans have a mental illness or substance use disorder?
In 2024, 23.4% of U.S. adults, or 61.5 million people, had any mental illness in the past year, and 5.6% (14.6 million) had a serious mental illness.
48.4 million people aged 12 or older (16.8%) had a substance use disorder.
Source: SAMHSA, 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
04How many people get mental health treatment?
52.1% of adults with any mental illness (32.0 million people) received mental health treatment in 2024, and 70.8% of adults with serious mental illness did.
Treatment is far rarer for addiction: only 12.3% of people with a substance use disorder received substance use treatment in the past year.
Source: SAMHSA, 2024 NSDUH.
05How many people work in behavioral health?
BLS counted 885,660 jobs in May 2025 across offices of mental health practitioners, outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers, and residential mental health and substance abuse facilities combined.
Counselors are the largest occupation at 223,160 jobs, about a quarter of the total.
These counts exclude the self-employed and behavioral health staff employed by hospitals, schools and government.
06Are behavioral health jobs growing?
Yes, much faster than the job market overall.
BLS projects substance abuse, behavioral disorder and mental health counselor employment to grow 18.4% from 2025 to 2035, psychiatric technicians 22.3% and marriage and family therapists 13.5%, against 3.5% for all occupations.
Counselors alone are projected to have about 50,500 openings a year.
07How many BCBAs and RBTs are there?
As of July 1, 2026 the Behavior Analyst Certification Board counted 85,587 Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), 5,246 BCaBAs and 260,174 Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) worldwide.
The number of BCBAs has more than doubled since 2019 (37,859), and U.S. job postings seeking BCBA certification rose 28% to 132,307 in 2025.
08Is there a shortage of mental health professionals?
Yes.
As of June 30, 2026, HRSA listed 7,109 Mental Health Health Professional Shortage Areas, home to 157.1 million people, with only 26.5% of the need met.
HRSA's December 2025 projections show 2038 shortages of 99,840 psychologists, 99,780 mental health counselors, 77,050 addiction counselors and 43,810 psychiatrists (full-time equivalents).
09How big is the behavioral health market?
Estimates vary by firm and scope.
For the U.S., recent published figures run from $87.8 billion (2024, Fortune Business Insights) to $96.9 billion (2025, Towards Healthcare).
An academic estimate of actual spending, published in Health Affairs in 2026, puts U.S. mental health and substance use disorder treatment spending at $139.6 billion in 2021, 5.5% of all medical services spending.