Mental Health Counseling/Counselor Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Mental Health Counseling/Counselor maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. Median in-state published tuition is about $5,042; common paths include Teachers, Postsecondary and Secondary School Teachers.
Key Statistics
Mental Health Counseling/Counselor: what the data shows
Common questions about mental health counseling/counselor degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a mental health counseling/counselor degree?
A Mental Health Counseling/Counselor program is classified under NCES CIP 51.1508 in the Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions field family (51.15).
A program that prepares individuals to provide evaluations, referrals, and short-term counseling services to help people prevent or remediate personal problems, conflicts, and emotional crises. Includes instruction in human development, psychopathology, individual and group counseling, personality theory, career assessment, patient screening and referral, observation and testing techniques, interviewing skills, professional standards and ethics, and applicable laws and regulations
IPEDS counted 22 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of mental health counseling/counselor degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 51.15 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling (CIP 51.1506)
- Clinical/Medical Social Work (CIP 51.1503)
- Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling (CIP 51.1504)
- Genetic Counseling/Counselor (CIP 51.1509)
- Hospice and Palliative Care (CIP 51.1512)
- Infant/Toddler Mental Health Services (CIP 51.1510)
- Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling (CIP 51.1505)
- Medical Family Therapy/Therapist (CIP 51.1511)
- Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician (CIP 51.1502)
- Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (CIP 51.1507)
- Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling (CIP 51.1501)
- Trauma Counseling (CIP 51.1513)
How long does it take to get a mental health counseling/counselor degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.1508 in our file:
- 115 Associate (1.1% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 22 Bachelor's (0.2% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 9,776 Master's (96.3% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 234 Doctorate (2.3% of IPEDS total)—varies by program
Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.
What do you learn in mental health counseling/counselor?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Writing, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Teachers, Postsecondary (top mapped occupation), O*NET incumbent surveys in our career profile report these education credentials most often: Some college (29%), High School or Equivalent (27%), Bachelors Degree (22%).
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a mental health counseling/counselor degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Mental Health Counseling/Counselor to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.
| Occupation | U.S. employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | 1,500,000 | — |
| Secondary School Teachers | 1,072,540 | $64,580 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a mental health counseling/counselor degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions bachelor's program family: median debt $24,199, median earnings $52,119 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.61.
About 5.3% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians.
Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $5,042 and median net price is $8,892.
We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.
Institutions
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$5,042 Median In-State Public
$29,778 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor majors are, on average, $5,042 for in-state public colleges, and $29,778 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
22 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Canyon University | AZ | 68,619 |
| 2 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,398 |
| 3 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 54,926 |
| 4 | Brigham Young University-Idaho | ID | 42,090 |
| 5 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | 39,637 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Mental Health Counseling/Counselor programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barstow Community College | CA | $1,104 |
| 2 | Laney College | CA | $1,148 |
| 3 | Fullerton College | CA | $1,150 |
| 4 | Santiago Canyon College | CA | $1,164 |
| 5 | Solano Community College | CA | $1,172 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $29 |
| 2 | Henry Ford College | MI | $576 |
| 3 | Florence-Darlington Technical College | SC | $598 |
| 4 | Central Carolina Community College | NC | $616 |
| 5 | Instituto Tecnologico de Puerto Rico-Recinto de San Juan | PR | $1,067 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor programs.
Graduation Rates
54.81% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
53.16% Average Graduation Rate
708 Institutions Reporting
39.65% - 66.69% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor programs across institutions.
Where students complete this major (IPEDS)
Bachelor's-level completions (IPEDS Completions, award level 5) summed by institution state. State is taken from IPEDS Directory (HD2023) for each reporting institution.
Geographic concentration
The largest number of reported bachelor's completions for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor is in SD (10 completions). That state represents about 45.5% of U.S. bachelor's completions reported for this CIP in the IPEDS file we use.
Among states, the highest concentration relative to all bachelor's degrees awarded in-state is SD (0.08% of that state's bachelor's completions).
Top states by count of bachelor's completions for this CIP (IPEDS).
| State | Bachelor's completions (this CIP) | % of U.S. total (this CIP) | % of state's all bachelor's |
|---|---|---|---|
| SD | 10 | 45.5% | 0.08% |
| PA | 9 | 40.9% | 0.01% |
| MO | 3 | 13.6% | 0.00% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 51.15 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling CIP 51.1506
- Clinical/Medical Social Work CIP 51.1503
- Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling CIP 51.1504
- Genetic Counseling/Counselor CIP 51.1509
- Hospice and Palliative Care CIP 51.1512
- Infant/Toddler Mental Health Services CIP 51.1510
- Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling CIP 51.1505
- Medical Family Therapy/Therapist CIP 51.1511
- Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician CIP 51.1502
- Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy CIP 51.1507
- Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling CIP 51.1501
- Trauma Counseling CIP 51.1513
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.1508 in the survey year used in our extract (10,147 total across levels below).
- 115 Associate (1.1% of IPEDS total)
- 22 Bachelor's (0.2% of IPEDS total)
- 9,776 Master's (96.3% of IPEDS total)
- 234 Doctorate (2.3% of IPEDS total)
Source: IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), summed by award level for this CIP.
Careers & Jobs
Occupations linked to this major in our degree→career mapping, with wages and employment from processed BLS career profiles in this repo.
Across these BLS occupations, employment-weighted mean pay is about $64,987. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Mental Health Counseling/Counselor graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | $36,511 | 1,500,000 |
| Secondary School Teachers | $104,813 | 1,072,540 |
Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.
Program outcomes (College Scorecard)
National medians across bachelor's programs in the Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions CIP family (18 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Mental Health Counseling/Counselor graduate.
- $24,199 median federal loan debt among completers
- $52,119 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.61 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 5.3% of graduates not working and not enrolled one year out (program cohort)
Source: College Scorecard program-level outcomes aggregated by 4-digit CIP family.
Employment
Wages and industry mix below use BLS OEWS data for occupations linked to this major in our mapping—not a graduate earnings survey.
Yearly Income for Common Jobs
$40,621 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor majors is $40,621.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor majors.
Occupations by Share
1,596,050 2023 Workforce
The number of Mental Health Counseling/Counselor graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor.
Age distribution for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
22 Total Degrees Awarded
2 Male (9.09%)
20 Female (90.91%)
Gender distribution of Mental Health Counseling/Counselor degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
10 American Indian/Alaska Native (45.45%)
6 White (27.27%)
2 Black or African American (9.09%)
2 Two or More Races (9.09%)
1 Asian (4.55%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Mental Health Counseling/Counselor degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Mental Health Counseling/Counselor field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Mental Health Counseling/Counselor majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor majors.
Skills Bar Chart
This bar chart shows the same information as the radar chart, displaying the importance of each skill.
Skill importance ratings for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals to provide evaluations, referrals, and short-term counseling services to help people prevent or remediate personal problems, conflicts, and emotional crises. Includes instruction in human development, psychopathology, individual and group counseling, personality theory, career assessment, patient screening and referral, observation and testing techniques, interviewing skills, professional standards and ethics, and applicable laws and regulations
In 2023, 22 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor.
CIP Code
51.1508 - Mental Health Counseling/Counselor
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $24,199 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $52,119, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.61. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Mental Health Counseling/Counselor graduate.
Women earned 82.2% of 10,855 Mental Health Counseling/Counselor completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $64,987. The largest mapped role by headcount is Teachers, Postsecondary (1,500,000 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $5,042 in-state at public colleges and $29,778 at private institutions for programs in this field.
Data Sources
This page uses data from the following sources:
- College Scorecard - U.S. Department of Education
- Institutional characteristics, costs, completion rates, and earnings data
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: collegescorecard.ed.gov
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
- Employment and wage data by occupation
- Latest data: May 2024
- Source: bls.gov/oes
- O*NET Online - U.S. Department of Labor
- Occupational skills, knowledge, abilities, and work activities
- Database version: 28.0 (August 2023)
- Source: onetcenter.org
- IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - National Center for Education Statistics
- Institutional data, completions, enrollment, and financial aid
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: nces.ed.gov/ipeds
- Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
- Demographic and workforce data
- Latest data: 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates
- Source: census.gov/acs
Data Processing: All data has been processed, cleaned, and aggregated for presentation. Where specific data points are unavailable, estimates are based on available data and clearly marked.
Last Updated: Data reflects the most recent available information as of January 2025.
Methodology
Data for this profile is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard dataset, IPEDS completion data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data.
All financial figures are adjusted for inflation and represent the most recent available data. Employment and wage data are from the most recent Census Bureau ACS PUMS estimates.