Therapist Salary in Oregon: Counselors, MFTs and Social Workers

Set against their own national figures, the three Oregon medians all sit above, but not by the same margin.

The counselor median of $74,590 is $15,240 above the national $59,350; the family therapist median of $91,520 is $24,580 above the national $66,940; the social worker median of $68,210 is $7,930 above the national $60,280.

The margins reorder the rows.

Nationally, mental health and substance abuse social workers out-earn counselors by $930 at the median; in Oregon counselors lead social workers by $6,380.

The national family therapist premium over counselors, $7,590, widens to $16,930 in Oregon.

Any single Oregon figure for the whole title would have to erase those differences, which is why this page shows all three.

The Oregon counselor median of $74,590 is 26% above the national median, and the whole distribution sits above it: the 10th percentile of $49,860 is 28% above the national figure, the 25th percentile of $60,130 is 28% above, the 75th percentile of $86,800 is 13% above and the 90th percentile of $102,830 is 5% above.

The advantage narrows from 28% at the floor to 5% at the ceiling.

The middle half of Oregon counselors spans $26,670, narrower than the national band of $29,430.

The $74,590 median ranks 2nd of the 51 jurisdictions that publish one.

BLS estimates 8,160 counselors employed in Oregon, which ranks the state 21st 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.

The Oregon family therapist median of $91,520 is 37% above the national $66,940, and the occupation sits above the national distribution at every percentile: the 10th of $60,060 is 35% above, the 25th of $69,140 is 38% above, the 75th of $138,320 is 47% above and the 90th of $165,190 is 34% above the national $123,730.

The 75th percentile is where the gap is widest.

The middle half spans $69,180, wider than the national band of $43,770, and the 10th-to-90th span runs $105,130.

The hourly median is $44.00 against $32.18 nationally.

BLS estimates 850 family therapists employed in Oregon, 13th of the 40 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate for the occupation, and OEWS does not say what pulls the top of the distribution so far above national.

Mental health and substance abuse social workers in Oregon have a median of $68,210, 13% above the national $60,280, and this is the one Oregon row with a figure below its national counterpart: the 90th percentile of $100,680 is 3% below the national $104,170.

The rest of the distribution leans the other way — the 10th percentile of $50,280 is 27% above, the 25th percentile of $58,250 is 24% above and the 75th percentile of $83,740 is 5% above.

So the Oregon advantage in this occupation sits almost entirely in the lower half.

The middle half spans $25,490 against the national band of $32,660.

The $68,210 median ranks 9th of the 51 jurisdictions that publish one.

BLS estimates 2,230 employed in Oregon, which ranks the state 18th of the 50 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate.

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

The Oregon hourly medians are $35.86 for counselors, $44.00 for marriage and family therapists and $32.79 for mental health and substance abuse social workers, against national hourly medians of $28.53, $32.18 and $28.98.

An annual counselor offer at the Oregon median of $74,590 is $15,240 above the national counselor median; the same dollar figure offered to a family therapist would sit $16,930 below the Oregon family therapist median.

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

None of the three rows is a licence figure.

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

Oregon licenses marriage and family therapists as the LMFT, with a pre-licensure registered associate tier, and the family therapist row is the closest of the three to a single licence, but OEWS does not split it by licence stage, so it cannot say what a registered associate earns.

In social work, Oregon licenses clinical social workers as the LCSW, and they are counted either in this social worker row or in healthcare social work, depending on the setting, so the $68,210 median does not describe every LCSW.

The pre-licensure stages — the registered associate tiers and the CSWA — are not split out of any row.