Therapist Salary in New York: Counselors, MFTs and Social Workers
BLS publishes no wage figure for therapists as such — it publishes three occupations, and in New York they reorder.
Counselors, a combined occupation that also counts substance abuse counselors, had a median of $59,450, $100 above their national median.
Marriage and family therapists had a median of $64,430, 4% below theirs, and mental health and substance abuse social workers $79,380, 32% above — a median that ranks 1st of the 51 jurisdictions that publish the occupation.
Nationally the family therapist median leads; in New York social workers do.
Posted pay in New York therapist listings
$92,500/yrmedian
Posted ranges run $71,000–$120,000/yr, from 3 distinct pay ranges at 3 employers (Equip, Lyra Health, Thriving Center of Psych).
From BehavioralHires' live job listings as of October 29, 2026. See the listings
Counselors (combined) · SOC 21-1018
$59,450/yr
0% vs. national $59,350
$28.58/hr median
Marriage & family therapists · SOC 21-1013
$64,430/yr
−4% vs. national $66,940
$30.98/hr median
MH & substance abuse social workers · SOC 21-1023
$79,380/yr
+32% vs. national $60,280
$38.16/hr median
Why three figures, not one
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state and national estimates — New York, SOCs 21-1018, 21-1013, 21-1023.
Retrieved 2026-09-24 from the BLS Public Data API.
How to read these figures
New York vs. the national figures, occupation by occupation
Each occupation is compared with its own national median from the same May 2025 release (national pages for counselors, marriage and family therapists, and social workers), and the national therapist salary page explains why the figures are never blended.
Ranks count only the jurisdictions (states plus DC) where BLS publishes that occupation’s figure.
Differences are whole percentages of the national figure, rounded half away from zero, computed from the figures shown.
By estimated employment, New York ranks 4th of 50 for counselors (combined), 14th of 40 for marriage and family therapists, 2nd of 50 for mental health and substance abuse social workers.
Three medians, reordered against national
Set against their own national figures, the three New York medians do not move together.
The counselor median of $59,450 sits $100 above the national $59,350 — level at whole-number rounding — while the family therapist median of $64,430 is $2,510 below the national $66,940 and the social worker median of $79,380 is $19,100 above the national $60,280.
The order changes as a result.
Nationally, family therapists lead social workers by $6,660 at the median and lead counselors by $7,590; in New York, social workers lead family therapists by $14,950 and lead counselors by $19,930, while the family therapist premium over counselors narrows to $4,980.
The spread between the highest and lowest of the three medians is $19,930 in New York against $7,590 nationally.
Counselors: level in the middle, ahead at the floor, behind at the ceiling
The New York counselor row runs close to the national one.
The median of $59,450 is $100 above the national median and ranks 28th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median for this occupation.
The floor is ahead: the 10th percentile of $42,410 is 9% above the national figure and the 25th percentile of $48,160 is 2% above.
The ceiling is behind: the 75th percentile of $73,710 is 4% below the national $76,530 and the 90th percentile of $90,590 is 7% below the national $97,590.
Both spans run narrower: the middle half covers $25,550 against a national band of $29,430, and the 10th-to-90th span is $48,180 against $58,650.
For someone weighing a counselor offer, the state median is a benchmark effectively equal to the national one, with less room above it.
BLS estimates 26,770 counselors employed in New York, 4th of the 50 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate.
This is a combined occupation, so the figures describe every kind of counselor it pools, not one licence.
What this figure covers: A COMBINED occupation: BLS publishes no wage series for licensed mental health counselors (LPC, LMHC, LPCC, LCPC) alone, so this figure pools them with substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors.
Nobody can tell from this release which way the blend pulls the figure.
Family therapists: above national at the floor, below it from the median up
New York's family therapist distribution crosses its national line.
The 10th percentile of $50,380 is 13% above the national $44,650 and the 25th percentile of $57,550 is 15% above; the median of $64,430 is 4% below the national $66,940, the 75th percentile of $76,600 is 18% below the national $93,840, and the 90th percentile of $83,050 is 33% below the national $123,730.
The distribution is compressed: the 10th-to-90th span is $32,670 against a national span of $79,080, and the national 90th percentile is 1.5 times the New York figure.
The hourly median is $30.98 against $32.18.
BLS estimates 770 family therapists employed in New York, 14th of the 40 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate — a count large enough that the row carries no small-sample flag, but OEWS does not say why the ceiling sits so far below national, and this page does not guess.
What this figure covers: An occupation of its own for marriage and family therapists — the only one of the three that is not a blend or a split.
Social workers: the highest state median BLS publishes, above national at every point
This row sets New York apart.
The median of $79,380 is 32% above the national $60,280 and ranks 1st of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median for this occupation.
Every percentile sits above national, and the premium is widest at the floor: the 10th percentile of $54,650 is 38% above the national $39,740 and the 25th percentile of $64,430 is 37% above, while the 75th percentile of $95,520 is 20% above the national $79,730.
At the 90th percentile, $122,340 against the national $104,170, the gap narrows to 17%.
The middle half spans $31,090 against a national band of $32,660, and the hourly median is $38.16 against $28.98.
BLS estimates 14,820 social workers employed in New York, 2nd of the 50 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate for this occupation.
What this figure covers: Clinical social workers (LCSWs) are counted either here or in SOC 21-1022, healthcare social workers, depending on the setting of the job.
This page shows 21-1023 only, so it does not describe every LCSW.
Reading an offer against these figures
Start with the occupation the job would be counted in, and read the offer against that row.
The New York hourly medians are $28.58 for counselors, $30.98 for family therapists and $38.16 for social workers, against national hourly medians of $28.53, $32.18 and $28.98.
An annual offer at the New York social worker median of $79,380 is $19,100 above the national median for that occupation; the same dollar figure offered to a counselor would sit $19,930 above the New York counselor median.
A family therapist offer at $64,430 sits $2,510 below its national median.
A percentile is a position in the state distribution, not a pay step: an offer at the 25th percentile says where it falls among New York jobs in that occupation, nothing about the person hired.
Which New York licences these figures do and don't describe
None of the three rows is a licence figure.
The counselor row pools New York's Licensed Mental Health Counselors (LMHC) with the substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors the same occupation counts, and BLS publishes no LMHC-only median for New York.
The family therapist row is the closest to a single licence: New York licenses marriage and family therapists as the LMFT, with a limited permit as the pre-licensure vehicle, but OEWS does not split the occupation by licence stage, so it cannot say what a therapist on a limited permit earns.
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 $79,380 median does not describe every LCSW.
New York licenses social workers on two tiers, the LMSW and the LCSW; the row is not split by licence, so neither tier has a median of its own.
What each licence requires in New York is summarized in counselor licensure in New York, social work licensure in New York, and MFT licensure in New York.
Before you weigh an offer, check which licence the posting asks for — browse therapist jobs in New York.
What Therapist Job Listings in New York Show Right Now
From the 30 active therapist listings on BehavioralHires as of October 29, 2026.
Employers with the most openings
Pay employers post
- 17% of therapist listings in New York state any pay at all.
Benefits and work arrangement
- 33% remote or telehealth and 27% hybrid; the rest are on-site
- 401k Matchnamed in 60%
- Health Insurancenamed in 57%
- Dental & Visionnamed in 50%
- PTO / Paid Time Offnamed in 37%
- Continuing Education Budgetnamed in 33%
Source: active therapist listings on BehavioralHires, updated daily. Pay figures use only listings that state pay (midpoint of each posted range). Benefits count listings that name the benefit; a listing that doesn’t mention one may still offer it.
Browse 30 jobs →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median therapist salary in New York?
There is no single figure, because BLS publishes no occupation called therapist.
For May 2025 it publishes three New York medians: $59,450 for counselors (a combined occupation that also counts substance abuse counselors), $64,430 for marriage and family therapists and $79,380 for mental health and substance abuse social workers.
The social worker median is 32% above its national median, the family therapist median 4% below its, and the counselor median $100 above its.
Use the row for the occupation the job would be counted in.
Do counselors or marriage and family therapists earn more in New York?
At the median, marriage and family therapists: $64,430 against $59,450 for counselors, a gap of $4,980.
That gap is narrower than nationally, where the family therapist median of $66,940 leads the counselor median of $59,350 by $7,590.
The picture flips at the top: the counselor 90th percentile of $90,590 sits $7,540 above the family therapist 90th percentile of $83,050, so the occupation with the lower median has the higher ceiling in New York.
What do the top 10% earn in each of the three occupations in New York?
The New York 90th percentile is $90,590 for counselors, $83,050 for marriage and family therapists and $122,340 for mental health and substance abuse social workers.
Set against the national 90th percentiles, those are 7% below, 33% below and 17% above.
One in ten workers in each occupation earned more than the figure for that occupation.
Only the social worker row is above its national counterpart; the counselor and family therapist ceilings both sit below theirs.
How many counselors, family therapists and social workers work in New York?
BLS estimates 26,770 counselors in the combined occupation, 770 marriage and family therapists and 14,820 mental health and substance abuse social workers employed in New York.
Those are headcounts of people in jobs during the survey period, not open positions.
By employment, New York ranks 4th of 50 jurisdictions for counselors, 14th of 40 for family therapists and 2nd of 50 for social workers, counting only the jurisdictions where BLS publishes an employment estimate.
Which occupation has the highest median in New York?
Mental health and substance abuse social workers, at $79,380 — 1st of the 51 jurisdictions that publish a median for the occupation, $14,950 above the family therapist median of $64,430 and $19,930 above the counselor median of $59,450.
Nationally the same row sits $6,660 below the family therapist median of $66,940, so New York inverts the national order at the top of the three medians.
More New York Therapist Resources
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates — New York, SOCs 21-1018, 21-1013 and 21-1023 (BLS Public Data API) (retrieved 2026-09-24)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 national estimates — SOCs 21-1018, 21-1013 and 21-1023 (BLS Public Data API) (retrieved 2026-09-24)
Wage figures: BLS OEWS May 2025 state and national estimates, SOCs 21-1018, 21-1013, 21-1023, retrieved 2026-09-24.
Page last updated 2026-09-25.