Therapist Salary in Maine: Counselors, MFTs and Social Workers

Set against their own national figures, the three Maine medians sit close but do not keep the national order.

The counselor median of $59,970 is $620 above the national $59,350, the family therapist median of $71,680 is $4,740 above the national $66,940, and the social worker median of $57,050 is $3,230 below the national $60,280.

The order changes in the middle.

Nationally, social workers lead counselors by $930; in Maine, counselors lead social workers by $2,920, so the bottom two occupations swap places while family therapists stay first in both.

The national family therapist premium over counselors, $7,590 at the median, holds in Maine and widens to $11,710.

The family therapist row rests on the smallest employment estimate of the three, so the widest Maine margin is also the thinnest-grounded — the small-sample section below takes that up.

The Maine counselor distribution sits above its national counterpart in the lower half and below it in the upper half: the 10th percentile of $43,310 is 11% above the national $38,940, the 25th percentile of $48,090 is 2% above, and the median of $59,970 is 1% above the national $59,350.

The signs turn: the 75th percentile of $73,410 is 4% below the national $76,530 and the 90th percentile of $89,220 is 9% below the national $97,590.

The middle half of the distribution spans $25,320 against a national band of $29,430, and the 10th-to-90th span is $45,910 against $58,650 — the upper reach is compressed.

For someone weighing a counselor offer, the Maine median is the higher benchmark, but the national row runs $8,370 higher at the 90th percentile.

BLS estimates 1,930 counselors employed in Maine.

By median, Maine ranks 23rd of the 51 jurisdictions that publish one; by employment, 41st of the 50 that publish an estimate.

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

Marriage and family therapists have the highest of Maine's three medians: $71,680, $4,740 above the national median of $66,940, a 7% difference.

The hourly median is $34.46 against $32.18 nationally, also 7% above.

This is also the thinnest row on the page.

BLS estimates 180 family therapists employed in Maine, so the table carries a small-sample flag and this analysis quotes only the median and hourly median from the row — no percentile, span or tail claim rests on 180 jobs.

By median, Maine ranks 10th of the 45 jurisdictions that publish one for this occupation; by employment, the 180 estimate is tied for 30th of the 40 that publish one.

OEWS offers no reason the median stands above its national counterpart, and this page does not guess.

Mental health and substance abuse social workers show the pattern the counselor row showed, from a lower median.

The 10th percentile of $45,870 is 15% above the national $39,740, and the 25th percentile of $47,740 is 1% above the national $47,070 — the floor is the one place this row sits well clear of national.

From there the row slips below national: the median of $57,050 is 5% below the national $60,280, the 75th percentile of $77,650 is 3% below the national $79,730, and the 90th percentile of $96,370 is 7% below the national $104,170.

The middle half spans $29,910 against a national band of $32,660, and the 10th-to-90th span is $50,500 against $64,430.

BLS estimates 1,860 social workers employed in Maine.

By median, Maine ranks 25th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish one; by employment, 21st of the 50 that publish an estimate.

A social work offer read against the national median is read against a figure $3,230 above the Maine median.

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

The Maine hourly medians are $28.83 for counselors, $34.46 for family therapists and $27.43 for social workers, which is where an hourly posting reads most directly.

At the annual medians the same figure reads differently by row: $59,970 against the counselor median is $620 above its national counterpart, the same $59,970 against the social worker median is $2,920 above Maine's, and against the family therapist median it would sit $11,710 below.

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

None of the three rows is a licence figure.

The counselor row pools Maine's LPCs and LCPCs with substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors, and BLS publishes no LPC-only or LCPC-only median for Maine.

The family therapist row is the closest to a single licence — Maine licenses marriage and family therapists as the LMFT — but OEWS does not split the occupation by licence stage, so the row cannot say what any tier within it earns.

The social worker row counts an occupation, not a licence: OEWS publishes no split between Maine's LCSWs and LMSWs, and an LCSW is counted either in this row or in healthcare social work depending on the setting of the job, so the Maine social worker median does not describe every LCSW.

Of the three occupations on this page, one carries a small-sample flag: marriage and family therapists, whose Maine employment estimate is 180 — small enough that the page marks the row's full table rather than treating it like the larger rows.

The practical effect is on how far the figures can be pushed: the median of $71,680 and the hourly median of $34.46 are quoted in this analysis, and the 10th, 25th, 75th and 90th percentiles of that row are not built on here.

The counselor and social worker rows, with employment estimates of 1,930 and 1,860, carry no flag.

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