Therapist Salary in Utah: Counselors, MFTs and Social Workers

Set against their own national figures, the three Utah medians move in three different directions.

The counselor median of $63,890 is $4,540 above the national $59,350, the family therapist median of $84,980 is $18,040 above the national $66,940, and the social worker median of $50,770 is $9,510 below the national $60,280.

One national relationship holds and stretches: the family therapist median leads the counselor median by $7,590 nationally, and by $21,090 in Utah — 33% of the counselor figure.

The other flips.

Nationally the social worker median sits $930 above the counselor median; in Utah counselors lead social workers by $13,120, and the family therapist median stands 1.7 times the social worker median, a $34,210 spread.

The Utah counselor median of $63,890 is 8% above the national $59,350, and everything from the median up holds that lead: the 75th percentile of $93,560 is $17,030, or 22%, above the national $76,530, and the 90th percentile of $106,080 is 9% above the national $97,590.

The floor points the other way — the 10th percentile of $35,410 is 9% below the national $38,940, and the 25th percentile of $39,040 is 17% below the national $47,100.

The distribution is stretched: the middle half spans $54,520 against a national band of $29,430, with $24,850 of it opening between the 25th percentile and the median alone, against $12,250 nationally.

For someone weighing a counselor offer, the Utah median is a higher benchmark than the national one and the Utah floor is lower.

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

BLS estimates 6,320 employed in Utah, ranking 27th of the 50 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate for this occupation.

Utah marriage and family therapists out-earn their national counterparts at every published percentile except the floor.

The 10th percentile of $39,800 is 11% below the national $44,650.

From there up, the lead is wide: the 25th percentile of $59,390 is 19% above the national $50,070, the median of $84,980 is $18,040, or 27%, above the national $66,940, the 75th percentile of $116,600 is 24% above the national $93,840, and the 90th percentile of $151,840 is 23% above the national $123,730.

The hourly median is $40.86 against $32.18 nationally, and the 10th-to-90th span runs $112,040 against a national span of $79,080.

By median, Utah ranks 6th of the 45 jurisdictions that publish an estimate for this occupation, and by employment, BLS's estimate of 2,390 ranks 4th of 40.

OEWS measures wages and employment, not why the lead is this wide, and this page does not guess.

Mental health and substance abuse social workers in Utah have a median of $50,770 — $9,510, or 16%, below the national $60,280.

The 25th percentile of $42,040 is 11% below the national $47,070, the deepest gap in the row after the median itself.

The other three points sit closer: the 10th percentile of $37,980 is 4% below the national $39,740, the 75th percentile of $79,540 is just $190 below the national $79,730, and the 90th percentile of $101,350 is 3% below the national $104,170.

So the shortfall concentrates in the lower middle of the distribution, while the Utah ceiling nearly reaches the national one.

The hourly median is $24.41 against $28.98 nationally.

BLS estimates 1,240 employed in Utah, ranking 29th of the 50 jurisdictions that publish an employment estimate for this occupation.

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

The Utah hourly medians are $30.72 for counselors, $40.86 for marriage and family therapists and $24.41 for mental health and substance abuse social workers.

A counselor offer at the Utah median of $63,890 sits $4,540 above the national counselor median of $59,350; the same dollar figure would sit $13,120 above the Utah social worker median.

The gaps between the three Utah medians mean the occupation named on a posting changes what its number is worth: the family therapist median stands $34,210 above the social worker median in the same state.

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

None of the three rows is a licence figure.

Utah licenses clinical mental health counselors, with an associate clinical mental health counselor tier beneath the independent licence, but the counselor row pools that licence with substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors, and BLS publishes no clinical mental health counselor-only median for Utah.

The family therapist row is the closest to a single licence, an occupation of its own for marriage and family therapists, whom Utah licenses alongside an associate marriage and family therapist tier, but OEWS does not split it by licence stage, so it cannot say what an associate marriage and family therapist 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 $50,770 median does not describe every LCSW, and it says nothing about Utah's certified social worker tier.