Mental
Health Counselor Salary: What the Federal Data Shows
Mental health counselors in the US earn a median of $59,350 a year,
according to the most recent federal wage data (BLS, May 2025 estimates,
released May 2026). The middle 80 percent of the field earns between
$38,940 and $97,590, and state medians run from $37,910 in Louisiana to
$80,770 in Alaska, more than a 2x spread for the same credential.
This page breaks down the numbers by state, covers what licensure and
setting do to pay, and looks at why counselor demand is one of the
strongest hiring stories in behavioral health right now. Every figure
comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, cited at the bottom, and we
refresh this page each spring when new federal estimates come out.
National snapshot
That last number matters. Nearly half a million counselors makes this
the largest licensed-clinician workforce in behavioral health, several
times the size of the psychologist or psychiatrist workforce, which is
why counselor hiring drives so much of the market.
Highest-paying states
| Rank | State | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | $80,770 |
| 2 | Oregon | $74,590 |
| 3 | New Mexico | $74,100 |
| 4 | Washington | $68,910 |
| 5 | North Dakota | $68,630 |
Cost of living explains part of this list and misses the rest. New
Mexico and North Dakota are not high-cost states; they are high-shortage
states, where a thin supply of licensed counselors bids pay up. The
pattern to take away: counselor pay tracks how badly a state needs
licensed clinicians more than it tracks local prices.
Mental health counselor salary by state
| State | Employment | 10th pctile | Median | 90th pctile | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | n/a | $34,420 | $47,310 | $76,510 | $54,200 |
| Alaska | 1,290 | $58,240 | $80,770 | $114,650 | $86,500 |
| Arizona | 9,990 | $44,520 | $65,300 | $95,210 | $68,120 |
| Arkansas | 2,570 | $35,760 | $51,580 | $100,270 | $58,480 |
| California | 75,610 | $44,640 | $59,250 | $111,080 | $69,080 |
| Colorado | 14,920 | $44,060 | $62,390 | $100,020 | $69,860 |
| Connecticut | 7,540 | $44,080 | $63,590 | $99,540 | $68,450 |
| Delaware | 1,700 | $36,940 | $56,020 | $80,710 | $57,330 |
| District of Columbia | 1,260 | $43,060 | $60,450 | $107,980 | $69,180 |
| Florida | 29,750 | $39,430 | $56,790 | $84,410 | $61,030 |
| Georgia | 9,600 | $37,390 | $58,960 | $90,980 | $61,310 |
| Hawaii | 2,110 | $48,460 | $60,090 | $104,790 | $70,050 |
| Idaho | 2,990 | $36,400 | $63,360 | $98,760 | $66,900 |
| Illinois | 20,250 | $43,010 | $60,730 | $109,100 | $68,530 |
| Indiana | 11,890 | $37,580 | $53,760 | $83,200 | $57,920 |
| Iowa | 3,530 | $44,450 | $60,880 | $102,890 | $66,790 |
| Kansas | 2,600 | $37,910 | $59,470 | $85,860 | $61,820 |
| Kentucky | 7,690 | $35,150 | $54,190 | $83,070 | $57,560 |
| Louisiana | 6,420 | $29,860 | $37,910 | $65,720 | $45,030 |
| Maine | 1,930 | $43,310 | $59,970 | $89,220 | $63,370 |
| Maryland | 9,730 | $44,050 | $59,530 | $91,980 | $63,720 |
| Massachusetts | 18,190 | $43,180 | $59,890 | $96,200 | $65,380 |
| Michigan | 10,100 | $38,490 | $61,690 | $94,400 | $65,430 |
| Minnesota | 7,110 | $45,250 | $58,780 | $77,320 | $59,730 |
| Mississippi | 2,090 | $32,770 | $46,990 | $77,310 | $52,130 |
| Missouri | 8,130 | $37,650 | $56,910 | $89,400 | $60,670 |
| Montana | 1,820 | $36,840 | $59,000 | $83,640 | $60,590 |
| Nebraska | 2,170 | $42,400 | $63,770 | $109,610 | $70,220 |
| Nevada | 1,810 | $42,920 | $57,210 | $98,010 | $64,350 |
| New Hampshire | 3,690 | $38,480 | $54,840 | $81,050 | $58,790 |
| New Jersey | 14,210 | $40,630 | $62,820 | $104,310 | $71,360 |
| New Mexico | 2,420 | $48,900 | $74,100 | $113,420 | $76,370 |
| New York | 26,770 | $42,410 | $59,450 | $90,590 | $64,040 |
| North Carolina | 10,300 | $37,440 | $55,490 | $86,010 | $59,160 |
| North Dakota | 1,290 | $43,270 | $68,630 | $86,630 | $67,940 |
| Ohio | 18,020 | $39,010 | $58,360 | $83,730 | $60,090 |
| Oklahoma | 5,150 | $35,350 | $59,350 | $92,870 | $61,990 |
| Oregon | 8,160 | $49,860 | $74,590 | $102,830 | $75,540 |
| Pennsylvania | 30,620 | $36,280 | $52,010 | $81,970 | $57,170 |
| Puerto Rico | 100 | $30,160 | $46,790 | $47,950 | $43,980 |
| Rhode Island | 2,170 | $43,960 | $65,120 | $98,440 | $68,600 |
| South Carolina | 6,300 | $35,010 | $52,370 | $81,420 | $55,880 |
| South Dakota | 1,710 | $39,210 | $53,650 | $67,010 | $54,760 |
| Tennessee | 9,040 | $34,950 | $49,580 | $76,620 | $53,720 |
| Texas | 21,400 | $37,650 | $62,630 | $95,910 | $65,180 |
| Utah | 6,320 | $35,410 | $63,890 | $106,080 | $69,370 |
| Vermont | 1,120 | $47,820 | $61,810 | $80,690 | $64,890 |
| Virginia | 17,940 | $39,730 | $59,880 | $100,040 | $65,430 |
| Washington | 14,250 | $47,220 | $68,910 | $110,580 | $75,020 |
| West Virginia | 2,100 | $36,990 | $49,430 | $73,360 | $53,820 |
| Wisconsin | 8,340 | $46,510 | $62,220 | $94,640 | $68,280 |
| Wyoming | 910 | $36,960 | $62,980 | $103,150 | $66,770 |
A reading tip: the gap between a state’s median and its 90th
percentile shows how much headroom the local market has above the
typical salary. Arkansas is the clearest example, a modest $51,580
median against a $100,270 ceiling, which points to a set of
private-practice and specialized roles paying well above the agency
baseline. California carries the largest workforce in the country
(75,610 counselors) at a median close to the national figure, so the
state sets the national number as much as it follows it.
What licensure does to your pay
The single biggest lever inside this occupation is your license
status, and the data hints at it: the 10th percentile ($38,940) is
heavily weighted with pre-licensed and provisionally-licensed counselors
still logging supervised hours, while the median and above reflect fully
independent LPC, LMHC, and LCPC clinicians. The jump from associate or
provisional license to full independent licensure is usually the largest
single raise a counselor gets, because it unlocks independent billing
and, in many settings, a caseload the counselor controls.
Two credential factors move pay from there:
Setting matters on top of credentials. Group and private practice,
hospital systems, and managed-care roles generally pay above community
mental health and non-profit agency baselines, and the 90th-percentile
column in high-cost states is where those roles show up.
Scope stacking
Counselors who hold both a mental
health license and an addiction credential (LADC or CADC on top of an
LPC) qualify for co-occurring caseloads that many employers pay a
premium to fill, especially in SUD treatment and CCBHC settings.
Multistate reach
The Counseling Compact is
expanding cross-state practice for eligible licensed counselors. Broader
geographic reach can widen the market a clinician can serve, especially
in telehealth. OurRemote
Therapist Jobs in 2026 guide covers the practical hiring and pay
implications of remote, multistate work. covers the practical hiring and pay
implications of remote, multistate work.
What the hiring market looks like
Counselor demand is the strongest employer-side story on this page.
BLS projects employment of substance use, behavioral disorder, and
mental health counselors to grow 17 percent from 2024 to 2034, one of
the fastest rates of any occupation it tracks and far above the 3
percent average across all jobs. HRSA’s workforce modeling goes further,
projecting a national shortfall approaching 100,000 mental health
counselors by 2038.
The shortage is not evenly spread. As of the most recent HRSA
quarterly designations, roughly 137 million Americans live in a
federally designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Area, and only
about a quarter of the mental health workforce need in those areas is
currently met. For counselors, that translates into bargaining power,
particularly in the shortage states near the top of the pay table. For
employers, it translates into a hiring market where posted pay does real
work: when qualified counselors have their pick of openings, the listing
that states a range gets the applications, and the one that hides pay
gets skipped. That is the whole argument behind our 2026 behavioral
health workforce outlook, and the counselor market is where it bites
hardest.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a mental health counselor make?
The
national median is $59,350 a year (BLS, May 2025 estimates). The middle
80 percent of counselors earn between $38,940 and $97,590, and state
medians range from $37,910 to $80,770.
Which states pay mental health counselors the most?
By median wage: Alaska (80, 770), Oregon(74,590),
New Mexico (74,590),
New Mexico (74, 100), Washington(68,910),
and North Dakota ($68,630). Shortage-driven demand, not cost of living,
explains most of the list.68,910),
and North Dakota ($68,630). Shortage-driven demand, not cost of living,
explains most of the list.
Do licensed counselors earn more than pre-licensed
counselors?
Yes. Federal data groups them together, but the low
end of the range (near the $38,940 10th percentile) is weighted toward
provisionally-licensed counselors logging supervised hours, while full
independent licensure (LPC, LMHC, LCPC) unlocks independent billing and
moves pay toward and above the median. Adding an addiction credential or
a Counseling Compact privilege raises it further.
Is mental health counseling a growing field?
Sharply. BLS projects 17 percent employment growth from 2024 to 2034,
and HRSA projects a shortfall near 100,000 counselors by 2038. It is one
of the highest-demand roles in behavioral health.
Where these numbers come from
Wage figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 estimates
(occupation code 21-1018, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and
Mental Health Counselors), released May 2026 and the most recent federal
data available. Growth projections are from the BLS Employment
Projections program (2024 to 2034) and HRSA workforce modeling. OEWS
reports wages for employees; independent contractor and private-practice
owner earnings are not included. Figures marked n/a are suppressed in
the source data. All wage figures are estimates and marked as such. We
refresh this page when BLS publishes new estimates each spring.
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