Therapist Salary in Hawaii: Counselors, MFTs and Social Workers

Set against their own national figures, the three Hawaii medians do not move together.

The counselor median of $60,090 is $740 above the national $59,350, the family therapist median of $141,960 is $75,020 above the national $66,940, and the social worker median of $54,390 is $5,890 below the national $60,280.

The spacing between the rows changes too.

Nationally, family therapists lead counselors by $7,590 and social workers edge counselors by $930; in Hawaii the family therapist lead over counselors is $81,870, while counselors sit $5,700 above social workers, reversing the national order of those two rows.

Any single Hawaii figure for the whole title would have to hide one of these directions, which is why this page shows all three.

Hawaii counselors sit above their national distribution at every published percentile, and the margin is widest at the floor.

The 10th percentile of $48,460 is $9,520, or 24% above the national figure, and the 25th percentile of $50,290 is 7% above; the two sit only $1,830 apart, against $8,160 nationally.

The middle runs closest: the median of $60,090 is $740, or 1% above the national median, and the 75th percentile of $77,200 is $670 above.

The 90th percentile of $104,790 is 7% above the national figure.

The middle half of the Hawaii distribution spans $26,910, narrower than the national band of $29,430, while the 10th-to-90th span is $56,330 against $58,650.

For someone weighing a counselor offer, the Hawaii median and ceiling both sit slightly above their national counterparts, with the smallest margin in the middle.

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

Hawaii ranks 22nd of the 51 jurisdictions publishing a median for this occupation, and 38th of the 50 publishing an employment estimate, with 2,110 employed.

Hawaii marriage and family therapists have a median of $141,960, $75,020 above the national median of $66,940, a difference of 112%.

The hourly median is $68.25 against $32.18 nationally, a gap of $36.07, or 2.1 times the national figure.

By median, Hawaii ranks 1st of the 45 jurisdictions that publish one for the occupation.

This is also the row to read with the most caution: BLS estimates only 220 marriage and family therapists employed in Hawaii, 27th of the 40 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate, and on a count that small the percentile table can swing sharply between releases.

So this page quotes only the row's median, hourly median and employment estimate.

OEWS does not say why the median sits so far above national, and this page does not guess.

Mental health and substance abuse social workers in Hawaii have a median of $54,390, $5,890 below the national median of $60,280, a difference of 10%.

The hourly median is $26.15 against $28.98 nationally, $2.83 below.

By median, Hawaii ranks 28th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish one for this occupation.

The row's employment estimate is the second caveat: BLS publishes no employment estimate for these social workers in Hawaii, so there is no headcount behind the table, and the page quotes only the row's median and hourly median.

OEWS does not say why the median sits below national, and this page does not guess.

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

An offer at the counselor median of $60,090 sits $5,700 above the social worker median of $54,390 and $81,870 below the family therapist median of $141,960.

Hourly postings read the same way: the Hawaii hourly medians are $28.89 for counselors, $68.25 for marriage and family therapists and $26.15 for mental health and substance abuse social workers, against national hourly medians of $28.53, $32.18 and $28.98.

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 Hawaii jobs in that occupation, not a judgement about the person hired.

None of the three rows is a licence figure.

The counselor row pools LMHCs with substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors, and BLS publishes no LMHC-only median for Hawaii; an associate mental health counselor tier exists below the LMHC, but OEWS does not split the row by licence stage.

The family therapist row is the closest to a single licence, an occupation of its own for marriage and family therapists, whom Hawaii licenses under the marriage and family therapist title with an associate marriage and family therapist provisional licence below it, but OEWS does not split it by stage either, so it cannot say what an associate marriage and family therapist earns.

In social work, Hawaii licenses the LBSW, the LSW and the LCSW, and 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 $54,390 median does not describe every LCSW.

The licensure pages linked below own the requirements for each title.

Two rows on this page carry the small-sample flag, for different reasons.

The marriage and family therapist row rests on a small employment estimate, 220, so the count behind its percentiles is known and small.

For mental health and substance abuse social workers, BLS withholds the employment estimate, so the size of the count behind that row is unknown rather than small.

Because of those flags, in prose this page quotes only the median, hourly median and, where published, employment for both rows; the percentile tables carrying the amber caveats are in the sections above.

The $141,960 family therapist median is the page's headline figure, and it should be read with that uncertainty attached rather than as a settled benchmark.