Therapist Salary in North Carolina: Counselors, MFTs and Social Workers

All three North Carolina medians sit below their national figures, but the distances differ so much that the order of the three occupations flips.

The social worker median of $58,210 is $2,070 below the national $60,280 and the counselor median of $55,490 is $3,860 below the national $59,350, while the family therapist median of $48,100 is $18,840 below the national $66,940.

Nationally, family therapists lead counselors by $7,590 at the median; in North Carolina, counselors lead family therapists by $7,390 and social workers lead them by $10,110.

The social worker median also sits $2,720 above the counselor median, a wider lead than the national gap of $930 between those two rows.

North Carolina counselors run below the national distribution at every percentile, and the gap widens toward the top.

The 10th percentile of $37,440 and the 25th percentile of $45,100 are each 4% below their national figures, the median of $55,490 is 7% below, the 75th percentile of $68,610 is 10% below the national $76,530, and the 90th percentile of $86,010 is 12% below the national $97,590.

The middle half of the distribution spans $23,510, against a national band of $29,430, so North Carolina counselor pay clusters more tightly around its lower median.

An offer at the national median of $59,350 would sit $3,860 above the state median.

The hourly median is $26.68 against $28.53 nationally.

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

Marriage and family therapists in North Carolina sit below the national distribution at every percentile, and the gap is widest at the bottom.

The 10th percentile of $27,860 is 38% below the national $44,650, the median of $48,100 is 28% below, and the 90th percentile of $109,200 is the closest point, 12% below the national $123,730.

Below the median the distribution is compressed, with the 25th percentile of $37,160 just $10,940 under the median; above it the distribution stretches, from the 75th percentile of $62,310, 34% below the national $93,840, up to a 90th percentile $46,890 higher still.

The hourly median is $23.13 against $32.18 nationally.

BLS estimates 1,400 family therapists employed in North Carolina, the 7th-largest count of the 40 jurisdictions that publish one.

OEWS does not say why this distribution sits so low, and this page does not guess.

Mental health and substance abuse social workers are the closest of the three North Carolina occupations to their national figures.

The median of $58,210 is 3% below the national $60,280, the 10th percentile of $38,970 is 2% below, and the 25th percentile of $48,150 is the one percentile on this page above its national figure, 2% above.

The distance then opens: the 75th percentile of $67,460 is 15% below the national $79,730 and the 90th percentile of $79,720 is 23% below.

The middle half of the distribution spans $19,310 against a national band of $32,660, so the ceiling is where this row departs from national.

BLS estimates 3,690 social workers employed in North Carolina, the count tied for 8th-largest of the 50 jurisdictions that publish one.

Start with the occupation the job would be counted in, because the three North Carolina distributions are far apart.

A counselor offer at the state median of $55,490 would sit $7,390 above the family therapist median of $48,100, yet $2,720 below the social worker median of $58,210.

Hourly postings read against the hourly medians: $26.68 for counselors, $23.13 for family therapists and $27.98 for social workers in North Carolina.

A percentile is a position in the state distribution, not a pay step or a career stage, so an offer at the 25th percentile says where it sits among North Carolina jobs in that occupation, not a judgement about the person hired.

None of the three rows is a licence figure.

The counselor row pools the state's licensed clinical mental health counselors, the LCMHCs — the LPC letters no longer name a North Carolina counsellor title — and their associates, with substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors, and BLS publishes no LCMHC-only median for the state.

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

Clinical social workers holding the LCSW or the LCSW-A associate licence are counted either in this social worker row or in healthcare social work, depending on the setting, so the $58,210 median does not describe every LCSW.