Marriage and Family Therapist Salary and Careers

Marriage and Family Therapist Careers

Becoming a marriage and family therapist typically does not require a PhD or other doctoral-level degree, but it still entails a substantial educational commitment. Like many other careers in therapy, licensure calls for qualifying graduate education, such as a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, along with supervised clinical experience and a licensing exam. AMFTRB, the association of state licensing boards for marriage and family therapists, develops the MFT National Examination, which it says nearly all states and jurisdictions require for licensure. Each state sets its own licensing requirements, and they vary. For example:

• In New York, the State Education Department accepts a master’s or doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy, or a master’s or higher degree in an acceptable allied mental health field. It also requires supervised experience and a passing score on the marriage and family therapy examination developed by AMFTRB.
• In California, the Board of Behavioral Sciences requires a qualifying master’s degree, supervised experience hours, and passing scores on the California Law and Ethics Exam and the LMFT Clinical Exam.

Once credentialed, what a marriage and family therapist does day to day varies depending on where they practice and the types of patients they see.

Offices of Mental Health Practitioners

BLS industry data show that offices of mental health practitioners (except physicians) employed 23,960 marriage and family therapists in May 2025, more than any other five-digit industry BLS reports for the occupation.

Marriage and Family Therapists in Outpatient Care Centers

Many marriage and family therapists practice in private or nonprofit outpatient care centers as part of a team. Outpatient care centers employed 7,760 marriage and family therapists in May 2025, including 6,470 in outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers, according to BLS. In outpatient care settings, therapists play a key role in addressing the social, emotional, and mental health needs of families, couples, children, and adults. Therapy is usually just one part of a more substantial patient care plan.

Self Employed Marriage and Family Therapists

Some marriage and family therapists open their own private practice. Successful marriage and family therapists market themselves well, handle their own accounting, and coordinate with insurance companies. BLS wage figures don't describe these earnings: the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey does not include the self-employed, so the pay figures on this page reflect therapists who work for an employer.

Marriage and Family Therapists for Individual and Family Services

According to BLS, individual and family services employers had 3,456,820 workers in May 2025, and 17,330 of them were marriage and family therapists.

Other Settings

BLS also counts marriage and family therapists in these settings (employment in May 2025):

• Residential mental health and substance abuse facilities: 2,130
• Hospitals: 1,400
• Educational services, including schools and colleges: 1,300

How Much Do Marriage and Family Therapists Make?

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data from May 2025, the median annual marriage and family therapist wage differs significantly by industry:

Across all industries, annual wages for marriage and family therapists ranged from $44,650 at the 10th percentile to $123,730 at the 90th percentile in May 2025, according to the BLS. Percentiles describe the spread of pay across therapists at all experience levels; the 10th percentile is not a starting salary.

Marriage and family therapist wages vary by state as well. Among the states with published May 2025 estimates, these five had the highest median annual wages for marriage and family therapists, according to the BLS:

California employed the most marriage and family therapists, 34,970, with a median annual wage of $67,300. That compares with 66,740 marriage and family therapists nationwide.

How MFT Pay Compares With Related Careers

If you're weighing a marriage and family therapy degree against counseling or social work, BLS national data for May 2025 show these median annual wages:

These are BLS occupation categories, not license titles. For how the LMFT and LCSW licenses differ in practice, see our comparison of LMFTs and LCSWs.