Therapist Salary in Kansas: Counselors, MFTs and Social Workers

No Kansas median moves far from its national counterpart.

The counselor median of $59,470 is $120 above the national $59,350; the family therapist median of $68,710 is $1,770 above the national $66,940; the social worker median of $56,330 is $3,950 below the national $60,280.

The national MFT premium over counselors holds in Kansas and widens slightly, from $7,590 to $9,240.

The middle of the order is what flips: nationally the social worker median of $60,280 sits $930 above the counselor median, while in Kansas the counselor median leads the social worker median by $3,140.

The family therapist lead over social workers also widens, from $6,660 nationally to $12,380 in Kansas.

Any one Kansas figure for the whole title would hide at least one of these directions, which is why this page shows all three.

The Kansas counselor distribution hugs the national one through the middle and falls away at the top.

The median of $59,470 is $120 above the national median of $59,350, as close to level as this release's figures come.

The 10th percentile of $37,910 is 3% below the national figure, the 25th percentile of $44,370 is 6% below, and the 75th percentile of $73,630 is 4% below.

The 90th percentile of $85,860 is where the gap is widest, 12% below the national $97,590.

The middle half spans $29,260 against a national band of $29,430, almost identical, while the 10th-to-90th span of $47,950 is narrower than the national $58,650.

For someone weighing a counselor offer, the Kansas median benchmarks like the national one; the state's ceiling does not.

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

Marriage and family therapists are the one occupation here whose Kansas median sits clearly above its national counterpart: $68,710 against $66,940, a gap of $1,770, or 3%.

The hourly median is $33.03 against $32.18 nationally.

That makes the family therapist median the highest of the three Kansas medians, and the row ranks 14th of the 45 jurisdictions that publish a median for this occupation.

Two cautions attach.

The employment estimate behind the row is small — BLS counts 190 marriage and family therapists in Kansas — so this page quotes only the median and hourly median from it.

And OEWS does not split the row by licence stage, so it cannot say where an individual offer sits between the tiers Kansas licenses.

Mental health and substance abuse social workers are the only one of the three whose Kansas median sits below its national median: $56,330 against $60,280, 7% below.

The shape is the striking part.

The floor sits well above the national floor — the 10th percentile of $47,750 is 20% above the national $39,740, and the 25th percentile of $48,990 is 4% above the national $47,070 — while the ceiling sits far below, with the 75th percentile of $66,290 17% below the national $79,730 and the 90th percentile of $79,650 24% below the national $104,170.

The middle half spans $17,300, roughly half the national band of $32,660, so Kansas pay in this occupation clusters tightly around the median.

With an estimated 1,620 workers, Kansas ranks 25th of the 50 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate for this occupation.

Read an offer against the row for the occupation the job would be counted in, not against a blended figure.

Hourly postings have direct benchmarks here: the Kansas hourly medians are $28.59 for counselors, $33.03 for family therapists and $27.08 for social workers, against national hourly medians of $28.53, $32.18 and $28.98.

An annual offer at the Kansas counselor median of $59,470 illustrates how much the row matters: that same figure sits $3,140 above the Kansas social worker median of $56,330 and $9,240 below the Kansas family therapist median of $68,710.

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

None of the three rows is a licence figure.

The counselor row pools LPCs and LCPCs with substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors, and BLS publishes no LPC-only median for Kansas.

The family therapist row is the closest to a single licence, but Kansas licenses two stages — the LMFT and the independent clinical tier, the LCMFT — and OEWS does not split the row by stage, so it cannot say what an LMFT earns against an LCMFT.

Clinical social workers holding the LSCSW are counted either in this social worker row or in healthcare social work, depending on the setting, so the $56,330 median does not describe every LSCSW.

The family therapist row is the reason this page carries a data flag.

BLS estimates 190 marriage and family therapists employed in Kansas, a small count for a percentile table, so the analysis above quotes only that row's median and hourly median rather than building on its percentiles.

The counselor row, with an estimated 2,600 workers, and the social worker row, with 1,620, rest on larger counts and carry no flag.

Employment estimates are headcounts of people in jobs during the survey period, not open positions.