Behavioral Health Technician Statistics 2026: Job Market, Pay, Demand & Workforce

BehavioralHires had 731 open behavioral health technician listings from 29 employers on October 29, 2026.

140 were first posted in the previous 14 days and 301 in the previous 30 days.

At least 18.6% of behavioral health technician listings were part-time on October 29, 2026.

Listings that name no schedule are counted as full-time, so the real part-time share is likely higher.

The benefit behavioral health technician listings named most often on October 29, 2026 was 401k Match, in 70.6% of listings, followed by dental & Vision (65.5%).

A listing that does not mention a benefit may still offer it.

To browse the openings themselves, see all behavioral health technician listings.

BLS has no behavioral health technician occupation; in May 2025 the national median annual wage was $45,130 for psychiatric technicians (SOC 29-2053) and $44,910 for psychiatric aides (31-1133) (BLS OEWS, May 2025).

Too few behavioral health technician listings state pay, or one employer posts most of those that do, to publish a market figure for advertised pay on October 29, 2026.

For the full federal pay breakdown and what it can and cannot tell you, see the behavioral health technician salary guide.

For how many listings state pay at all, including pay written only in the description, see our pay transparency data release.

29 employers had open behavioral health technician listings on BehavioralHires on October 29, 2026, and the five largest posted 80% of them.

5 employers (17.2%) had exactly one open behavioral health technician listing.

The largest single employer, Universal Health Services, posted 55.7% of all behavioral health technician listings, so this sample leans toward large behavioral health groups.

BLS projects psychiatric technician employment to grow 22.3% from 2025 to 2035, from 161,500 to 197,500 jobs, the fastest growth among the behavioral health occupations it measures (BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35).

BLS expects about 17,000 psychiatric technician openings a year on average from 2025 to 2035 (BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35).

Psychiatric aide employment is projected to grow 1.9% from 2025 to 2035, below the 3.5% average for all occupations (BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35).

Offices of mental health practitioners, outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers and residential facilities employed 50,580 psychiatric technicians in May 2025 (BLS OEWS industry tables).

For what the shortage projections and hiring data mean for employers, see our behavioral health hiring market guide.

For how to enter the field, see the behavioral health technician career guide.

Listing figures are computed from every active, paid behavioral health technician listing on BehavioralHires at the time shown, and refreshed every six hours.

Listings on a job board are not a random sample of all behavioral health technician jobs, so read them as a picture of current hiring, not of total employment.

This page is published only while the live sample has at least 300 listings from 25 employers.

Advertised pay is the midpoint of the range an employer posts, or its single figure, and hourly and annual postings are never converted into each other.

The headline is the employer median: each employer’s own median, then the median across employers, so a group posting hundreds of openings counts once.

A pay figure needs at least 30 listings from 10 employers and is withheld when one employer posted more than two thirds of them.

Third-party figures are quoted as published, with the source and year in each sentence.

Where BLS has no occupation for a job title, federal pay is given separately for each occupation the title falls under, never averaged into one number.