Counseling & Therapy

Counselors and therapists help people understand their thoughts and feelings, heal from trauma, fix relationships, and build better lives — through talk, art, music, play, and behavior science.

Top pay: highest pay, longest training

• Neuropsychologist: Tests how the brain is working after injuries, strokes, dementia, or developmental conditions. Typical pay $125k.
• Therapy Group Practice Owner: Owns a counseling business that employs several therapists, handling both clinical care and running the company. Typical pay $130k.

Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship

• Clinical Psychologist: Diagnoses and treats mental health conditions using talk therapy and psychological testing. Typical pay $96k.
• School Psychologist: Tests and supports students with learning, behavior, and emotional challenges. Typical pay $85k.
• Licensed Mental Health Counselor: Provides talk therapy for anxiety, depression, trauma, and life problems. Typical pay $59k.
• Marriage & Family Therapist: Helps couples and families improve how they communicate and work through conflict. Typical pay $64k.
• School Counselor: Helps K-12 students with academics, college and career plans, and personal problems. Typical pay $65k.
• Board Certified Behavior Analyst: Designs behavior programs, often for children with autism, to build communication and life skills. Typical pay $78k.
• Art Therapist: Uses drawing, painting, and sculpture to help people express feelings and heal. Typical pay $60k.
• Music Therapist: Uses music — singing, drumming, songwriting — to help patients with pain, memory, or emotional healing. Typical pay $57k.
• Play Therapist: Uses toys, sand trays, and games to help young children work through trauma and big feelings. Typical pay $62k.
• Drama Therapist: Uses acting, role-play, and storytelling as therapy. Typical pay $56k.
• Grief Counselor: Supports people after the death of a loved one through counseling and support groups. Typical pay $56k.
• Dance/Movement Therapist: Uses movement and dance to help people heal emotionally and physically. Typical pay $62k.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Counselor: Provides short-term counseling to workers through their employer's benefit program. Typical pay $65k.
• Adventure Therapist: A licensed counselor who uses rock climbing, ropes courses and backpacking as part of therapy for teens and adults. Typical pay $62k.
• Parenting Coordinator: A neutral expert, often a therapist or lawyer, appointed by a family court to help high-conflict divorced parents settle disputes about their kids. Typical pay $95k.

Starter: fastest way in

• Psychiatric Technician: Cares for patients in psychiatric hospitals — monitoring, de-escalating, and helping with daily routines. Typical pay $41k.
• Registered Behavior Technician: Works one-on-one with children with autism, following a behavior analyst's plan. Typical pay $40k.
• Behavioral Health Associate: Supports therapists by running groups, doing intakes, and coordinating care for clients. Typical pay $42k.
• Mental Health Case Manager: Helps people with serious mental illness get housing, medication, appointments, and benefits. Typical pay $45k.
• Behavioral Health Intake Coordinator: Is the first person people talk to when they call for mental health help. Typical pay $42k.
• Clubhouse Generalist (Psychiatric Rehabilitation): Works side by side with members of a mental health 'clubhouse' where adults with mental illness run daily operations together. Typical pay $42k.

Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.