Therapist Salary in Minnesota: Counselors, MFTs and Social Workers

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

Counselors, a combined occupation, had a median of $58,780, 1% below the national $59,350.

Marriage and family therapists had a median of $72,470, 8% above the national $66,940, and mental health and substance abuse social workers a median of $75,020, 24% above the national $60,280.

The gaps between the rows change too: nationally the social worker median leads the counselor median by $930, and in Minnesota the gap is $16,240; the family therapist premium over counselors widens from $7,590 nationally to $13,690; and the only pair to flip is family therapists and social workers, whose national lead of $6,660 becomes a $2,550 deficit in Minnesota.

Any one Minnesota figure for the whole title would have to hide the flip and the widened leads.

The Minnesota counselor row is compressed: the floor sits above the national distribution and the ceiling below it.

The 10th percentile of $45,250 is $6,310 above the national 10th of $38,940, and the 25th percentile of $48,910 is 4% above the national $47,100.

The median of $58,780 is $570 below the national $59,350 and ranks 33rd of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median for this occupation.

From there the gap opens: the 75th percentile of $65,430 is $11,100 below the national $76,530, and the 90th percentile of $77,320 is $20,270 below the national $97,590.

The middle half of the Minnesota distribution spans $16,520 against a national band of $29,430, and the 10th-to-90th span is $32,070 against $58,650.

For someone weighing a counselor offer, the Minnesota median is an accurate benchmark in the middle, but there is far less above it than the national range has.

This is a combined occupation, so the figures describe the LPC and LPCC licences pooled with substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors.

Minnesota marriage and family therapists start well above the national distribution and finish below it.

The 10th percentile of $54,430 is $9,780 above the national 10th of $44,650, and the 25th percentile of $61,060 is $10,990 above the national $50,070; both are 22% gaps.

The median of $72,470 is 8% above the national $66,940.

The sign then flips: the 75th percentile of $83,720 is $10,120 below the national $93,840, and the 90th percentile of $99,920 is $23,810 below the national $123,730.

The Minnesota 10th-to-90th span is $45,490 against a national span of $79,080, and the middle half spans $22,660 against $43,770.

What survives is still the highest ceiling in the state: the Minnesota 90th percentile leads the social worker figure of $98,520 by $1,400.

BLS estimates 4,870 employed, 2nd of the 40 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate for this occupation, so these percentiles rest on a large count.

Mental health and substance abuse social workers have the largest median gap over national of the three rows: $75,020, which is $14,740 over the national $60,280, or 24%.

That median ranks 4th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish one for this occupation.

In percentage terms the floor is ahead by more: the 10th percentile of $50,950 is 28% above the national 10th of $39,740, and the 25th percentile of $60,080 is 28% above the national $47,070.

In dollars, though, those gaps are smaller ($11,210 and $13,010) and the dollar gap peaks at the median itself; from there it falls away, with the 75th percentile of $85,990 at $6,260 over the national $79,730 and the 90th percentile of $98,520 $5,650 under the national $104,170.

Social work is also the least compressed row: its middle half spans $25,910 against a national band of $32,660, so its shape stays closest to the national one.

BLS estimates 3,590 employed, 11th of the 50 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate.

Start with the occupation the job would be counted in, and read hourly postings against the hourly median.

Minnesota's hourly medians are $28.26 for counselors, $34.84 for marriage and family therapists and $36.07 for mental health and substance abuse social workers, against national hourly medians of $28.53, $32.18 and $28.98.

The same dollar amount marks a different position in each row: $72,470, the family therapist median, would sit $13,690 above the counselor median of $58,780 and $2,550 below the social worker median of $75,020.

Hourly, the counselor median runs $0.27 below its national counterpart, the family therapist $2.66 above and the social worker $7.09 above.

A percentile is a position in a state distribution, not a career stage or a judgement about the worker.

None of the three rows is a licence figure.

The counselor row pools LPCs and LPCCs, Minnesota's two counselor licences, with substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors, and BLS publishes no LPC-only or LPCC-only median for Minnesota.

The family therapist row is the closest to a single licence: Minnesota licenses marriage and family therapists as the LMFT, with the LAMFT below it, but OEWS does not split the row by licence stage, so it cannot say what an LAMFT earns.

In social work, Minnesota licenses the LSW, LGSW, LISW and LICSW, and only the LICSW is clinically independent.

Clinical social workers are counted either in this row or in healthcare social work, depending on the setting, so the $75,020 median does not describe every LICSW.