Therapist Salary in Mississippi: Counselors, MFTs and Social Workers

The three Mississippi medians run from $46,990 for counselors to $48,970 for mental health and substance abuse social workers to $51,440 for marriage and family therapists — a spread of $4,450, and every one of them sits 19% to 23% below its own national median.

The national ordering is the same: family therapists lead at $66,940, social workers at $60,280, counselors at $59,350.

What narrows is the family therapist premium: nationally it is $7,590 over the counselor median; in Mississippi it is $4,450, or 9%.

The social worker median sits $1,980 above the counselor median, against $930 nationally.

Hourly, the state medians are $22.59, $24.73 and $23.55 against national $28.53, $32.18 and $28.98.

Any one Mississippi figure for the whole title would have to hide these positions, which is why this page shows all three.

Counselors are the lowest of the three Mississippi medians at $46,990, 21% below the national $59,350, and the dollar shortfall widens at every percentile: the 10th percentile of $32,770 is $6,170 below the national $38,940, the 25th of $38,760 is $8,340 below $47,100, and the 75th of $58,560 is $17,970 below the national $76,530 — 23%, the largest percentage gap in this row.

The 90th percentile of $77,310 is $20,280 below the national $97,590, back to 21%.

The middle half of the Mississippi distribution spans $19,800, against $29,430 nationally, and the 10th-to-90th span is $44,540 against $58,650.

For someone weighing a counselor offer, the state median and the state ceiling both sit under their national benchmarks, and the narrower middle band leaves less room between them.

BLS estimates 2,090 counselors employed in Mississippi, 40th of the 50 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate, while the median ranks 50th of the 51 that publish a median.

This is a combined occupation that pools LPCs and P-LPCs with substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors.

Marriage and family therapists have the highest of Mississippi's three medians at $51,440 — $2,470 above the social worker median and $4,450 above the counselor median, or 9% — yet 23% below the national family therapist median of $66,940.

The hourly median is $24.73 against $32.18 nationally, $7.45 below.

BLS estimates only 140 family therapists employed in Mississippi, so this row carries the page's small-sample flag, and this analysis quotes the occupation's median and hourly median only: the table's percentiles rest on an estimate too small to build a conclusion on.

OEWS does not say why the median sits where it does, and this page does not guess.

Mental health and substance abuse social workers have a median of $48,970, 19% below the national $60,280 — the closest of the three medians to its national figure.

In percentage terms the floor falls furthest behind: the 10th percentile of $25,880 is 35% below the national $39,740, the deepest percentage gap in this row, and the 25th of $33,700 is 28% below $47,070.

In dollars the shortfall is smallest at the median, $11,310, and widens toward the ceiling: the 90th percentile of $78,920 sits $25,250 below the national $104,170, with the 75th of $62,520 $17,210 below the national $79,730.

The middle half spans $28,820 against $32,660 nationally.

BLS estimates 920 employed in Mississippi, 34th of the 50 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate, while the median ranks 36th of the 51 that publish a median.

LCSWs are counted in this row or in healthcare social work, depending on the setting, so the median does not describe every LCSW.

Start with the occupation the job would be counted in, and compare the offer to that row.

The Mississippi hourly medians are $22.59 for counselors, $24.73 for marriage and family therapists and $23.55 for social workers; the national figures are $28.53, $32.18 and $28.98, so an hourly posting reads against the row it names.

In annual terms, an offer of $48,970 would sit exactly at the social worker median, $1,980 above the counselor median and $2,470 below the family therapist median.

A percentile is a position in the state distribution, not a pay step or a judgement about the person hired: an offer at the 25th percentile of $38,760 for counselors says where it falls among Mississippi counselor jobs, nothing more.

None of the three rows is a licence figure.

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

The family therapist row is the closest to a single licence — an occupation of its own for marriage and family therapists, whom Mississippi licenses as the LMFT with an LMFTA pre-licensure tier — but OEWS does not split it by licence stage, so it cannot say what an LMFTA earns.

The social worker row spans titles Mississippi licenses separately: LSW, LMSW and LCSW.

And the row is not the whole of social work either, because LCSWs are counted either in this row or in healthcare social work, depending on the setting, so the $48,970 median does not describe every LCSW.

The licensure pages linked under this section own each title's rules.

Mississippi's marriage and family therapists row carries a small-sample flag: BLS estimates only 140 employed in the state, a small employment estimate, so this page quotes only that occupation's median and hourly median and builds nothing on its percentiles.

The counselor row, with an estimated 2,090 employed, and the social worker row, with 920, are not flagged, and their percentile walks rest on the larger counts shown above.