Therapist Salary in California: Counselors, MFTs and Social Workers

Set against their own national figures, the California medians split two-and-one.

The counselor median of $59,250 is $100 below the national $59,350, and the family therapist median of $67,300 is $360 above the national $66,940.

The social worker median of $79,000 is $18,720 above the national $60,280, a 31% gap.

The gaps between the occupations move with it.

Nationally, family therapists lead counselors by $7,590 at the median, and the California version of that gap holds at $8,050.

But the social worker median, which sits $930 above the counselor median and $6,660 below the family therapist median nationally, is $19,750 above counselors and $11,700 above family therapists in California.

Any one California figure for the whole title would have to hide which occupation moved, which is why this page shows all three.

The California counselor distribution matches the nation in the middle and lifts away at both ends.

The median of $59,250 is $100 below the national figure and the hourly median of $28.48 is $0.05 below the national $28.53.

The floor is firmer: the 10th percentile of $44,640 is $5,700, or 15%, above national, and the 25th percentile of $47,640 is 1% above.

The ceiling is higher still: the 75th percentile of $80,570 is 5% above the national figure and the 90th percentile of $111,080 is $13,490, or 14%, above.

The middle half spans $32,930 against a national band of $29,430, and the 10th-to-90th span is $66,440 against $58,650.

BLS estimates 75,610 counselors employed in California, which ranks 1st of the 50 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate for this occupation.

This is a combined occupation, so the figures describe every kind of counselor it pools, not one licence.

Marriage and family therapists are the California occupation whose distribution most closely follows the national one.

Every published percentile sits close: the 10th percentile of $46,350 is 4% above its national figure, the 25th percentile of $49,680 is 1% below, the median of $67,300 is 1% above, the 75th percentile of $98,450 is 5% above and the 90th percentile of $130,340 is 5% above.

The hourly median is $32.35 against $32.18.

Only the 25th percentile falls below national, by $390, and the middle half spans $48,770 against a national band of $43,770.

BLS estimates 34,970 employed in California, which ranks 1st of the 40 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate for this occupation.

For someone weighing a family therapist offer here, the national figures are a close benchmark; OEWS does not say why the row tracks so tightly, and this page does not guess.

Mental health and substance abuse social workers are the California row that departs from its national distribution, and the departure widens up the percentiles.

The median of $79,000 is $18,720 above the national $60,280 — 31%, and the 2nd highest of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median for this occupation.

The 10th percentile of $46,450 is 17% above national, the 25th percentile of $57,800 is 23% above, the 75th percentile of $118,860 is 49% above and the 90th percentile of $147,300 is 41% above.

The hourly median of $37.98 is $9.00 above the national $28.98.

At every percentile this row also sits above the other two California rows at that same percentile — by $10,160 over counselors at the 25th, $11,700 over family therapists at the median and $16,960 over family therapists at the 90th.

The middle half spans $61,060, 1.9 times the national band of $32,660.

Start with the occupation the job would be counted in, and compare against that row rather than a blended number.

The California hourly medians are $28.48 for counselors, $32.35 for marriage and family therapists and $37.98 for mental health and substance abuse social workers.

A counselor offer at the California median of $59,250 sits $100 below the national counselor median of $59,350; the same dollar figure offered for a social worker role would sit $19,750 below the California social worker median.

The national medians benchmark the middle of the counselor and family therapist rows, but not the counselor edges — the California 10th percentile sits $5,700 (15%) above national and the 90th percentile $13,490 (14%) above.

The social worker row is where California-specific figures matter, since its median runs $18,720 above national.

A percentile is a position in the state distribution, not a pay step, so an offer at the 25th percentile says where it sits among California jobs in that occupation, not a judgement about the person hired.

None of the three rows is a licence figure.

The counselor row pools LPCCs — and APCC associates working toward the LPCC — with substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors, and BLS publishes no LPCC-only median for California.

The family therapist row is the closest to a single licence, an occupation of its own for marriage and family therapists, whom California licenses as the LMFT, but OEWS does not split it by licence stage, so it cannot say what an AMFT associate earns.

Clinical social workers holding the LCSW are counted either in this social worker row or in healthcare social work, depending on the setting, so the $79,000 median does not describe every LCSW.

The ASW associate registration is not a BLS occupation at all.