Mental Health Counselors
Counsel and advise individuals and groups to promote optimum mental and emotional health, with an emphasis on prevention. May help individuals deal with a broad range of mental health issues, such as those associated with addictions and substance abuse; family, parenting, and marital problems; stress management; self-esteem; or aging.
- O*NET-SOC code
21-1014.00 - Preparation Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Wages
BLS doesn't publish wages for Mental Health Counselors separately. These are the figures for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors (21-1018), a combined BLS occupation that includes it.
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $38,940 | $47,100 | $59,350 | $76,530 | $97,590 |
By state (51)
| State | Employment | Median annual | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $47,310 | ||
| Alaska | 1,290 | $80,770 | 1.26 |
| Arizona | 9,990 | $65,300 | 0.97 |
| Arkansas | 2,570 | $51,580 | 0.62 |
| California | 75,610 | $59,250 | 1.31 |
| Colorado | 14,920 | $62,390 | 1.64 |
| Connecticut | 7,540 | $63,590 | 1.41 |
| Delaware | 1,700 | $56,020 | 1.11 |
| District of Columbia | 1,260 | $60,450 | 0.57 |
| Florida | 29,750 | $56,790 | 0.95 |
| Georgia | 9,600 | $58,960 | 0.62 |
| Hawaii | 2,110 | $60,090 | 1.06 |
| Idaho | 2,990 | $63,360 | 1.10 |
| Illinois | 20,250 | $60,730 | 1.05 |
| Indiana | 11,890 | $53,760 | 1.17 |
| Iowa | 3,530 | $60,880 | 0.72 |
| Kansas | 2,600 | $59,470 | 0.57 |
| Kentucky | 7,690 | $54,190 | 1.22 |
| Louisiana | 6,420 | $37,910 | 1.05 |
| Maine | 1,930 | $59,970 | 0.95 |
| Maryland | 9,730 | $59,530 | 1.11 |
| Massachusetts | 18,190 | $59,890 | 1.58 |
| Michigan | 10,100 | $61,690 | 0.72 |
| Minnesota | 7,110 | $58,780 | 0.76 |
| Mississippi | 2,090 | $46,990 | 0.57 |
| Missouri | 8,130 | $56,910 | 0.87 |
| Montana | 1,820 | $59,000 | 1.12 |
| Nebraska | 2,170 | $63,770 | 0.67 |
| Nevada | 1,810 | $57,210 | 0.37 |
| New Hampshire | 3,690 | $54,840 | 1.71 |
| New Jersey | 14,210 | $62,820 | 1.05 |
| New Mexico | 2,420 | $74,100 | 0.88 |
| New York | 26,770 | $59,450 | 0.87 |
| North Carolina | 10,300 | $55,490 | 0.66 |
| North Dakota | 1,290 | $68,630 | 0.95 |
| Ohio | 18,020 | $58,360 | 1.03 |
| Oklahoma | 5,150 | $59,350 | 0.95 |
| Oregon | 8,160 | $74,590 | 1.31 |
| Pennsylvania | 30,620 | $52,010 | 1.60 |
| Rhode Island | 2,170 | $65,120 | 1.37 |
| South Carolina | 6,300 | $52,370 | 0.86 |
| South Dakota | 1,710 | $53,650 | 1.18 |
| Tennessee | 9,040 | $49,580 | 0.87 |
| Texas | 21,400 | $62,630 | 0.48 |
| Utah | 6,320 | $63,890 | 1.15 |
| Vermont | 1,120 | $61,810 | 1.17 |
| Virginia | 17,940 | $59,880 | 1.38 |
| Washington | 14,250 | $68,910 | 1.27 |
| West Virginia | 2,100 | $49,430 | 0.95 |
| Wisconsin | 8,340 | $62,220 | 0.90 |
| Wyoming | 910 | $62,980 | 1.03 |
Similar occupations
Similarity is our measure: the cosine of importance x level over all 120 O*NET skills, knowledge areas and abilities. It is not an O*NET finding. More.
Circles are the 20 most similar occupations, coloured by Job Zone. Lines join pairs where one is among the other's 10 most similar; darker lines are pairs O*NET also lists as related. Drag a circle to move it out of the way; select one to open it.
| # | Occupation | Job Zone | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marriage and Family Therapists | 5 | 0.990 |
| 2 | Healthcare Social Workers | 5 | 0.987 |
| 3 | Clinical and Counseling Psychologists | 5 | 0.986 |
| 4 | Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors | 5 | 0.984 |
| 5 | Rehabilitation Counselors | 5 | 0.980 |
| 6 | Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers | 5 | 0.980 |
| 7 | Child, Family, and School Social Workers | 4 | 0.973 |
| 8 | School Psychologists | 5 | 0.973 |
| 9 | Neuropsychologists | 5 | 0.970 |
| 10 | Social and Human Service Assistants | 4 | 0.966 |
One skill away
Among the 50 occupations most similar to Mental Health Counselors, those at the same Job Zone or lower, where exactly one skill rated at least 3 in importance needs a level more than 0.75 points higher (on O*NET's 0-7 level scale). Our definition. Change the thresholds.
| Occupation | Skill to build | Level gap | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers | Time Management | 0.76 | 0.980 |
| Child, Family, and School Social Workers | Time Management | 0.76 | 0.973 |
| Clinical Neuropsychologists | Instructing | 0.76 | 0.960 |
| Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses | Time Management | 0.76 | 0.956 |
| Psychiatrists | Instructing | 0.76 | 0.952 |
| Speech-Language Pathologists | Instructing | 0.88 | 0.948 |
| Pediatricians, General | Instructing | 0.76 | 0.936 |
| Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education | Instructing | 0.88 | 0.924 |
Software to learn next
Software used by at least 3 of the 20 occupations most similar to Mental Health Counselors, excluding software Mental Health Counselors already lists and any you named. Ranked by how many of them use it, weighted by how much more common it is among them than across all occupations (lift). Our ranking.
| Software | Similar jobs using it | Lift |
|---|---|---|
| Athena Software Penelope Case Management | 3 of 20 | 46.2x |
| Epic EpicCare Inpatient Clinical System | 3 of 20 | 46.2x |
| ICANotes | 3 of 20 | 46.2x |
| Social Solutions ETO | 3 of 20 | 46.2x |
| Google Meet | 6 of 20 | 6.3x |
| Noldus Information Technology The Observer XT | 3 of 20 | 34.6x |
| Zoom | 6 of 20 | 5.3x |
| Electronic medical record EMR software | 4 of 20 | 5.8x |
| Microsoft Teams | 4 of 20 | 5.8x |
| Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCS | 4 of 20 | 4.6x |
Skills
From O*NET data. Importance is rated 1 to 5 and level 0 to 7.
| Skill | Type | Importance | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Perceptiveness | Transferable skill | 5.00 | 5.75 |
| Active Listening | Essential skill | 5.00 | 5.00 |
| Speaking | Essential skill | 4.25 | 4.25 |
| Reading Comprehension | Essential skill | 4.12 | 4.75 |
| Writing | Essential skill | 4.12 | 4.12 |
| Critical Thinking | Essential skill | 4.00 | 4.38 |
| Judgment and Decision Making | Transferable skill | 4.00 | 4.00 |
| Service Orientation | Transferable skill | 3.88 | 4.00 |
| Active Learning | Essential skill | 3.75 | 4.00 |
| Complex Problem Solving | Transferable skill | 3.75 | 4.00 |
| Monitoring | Essential skill | 3.75 | 4.00 |
| Persuasion | Transferable skill | 3.62 | 3.88 |
| Learning Strategies | Essential skill | 3.12 | 3.88 |
| Systems Evaluation | Transferable skill | 3.00 | 3.88 |
| Negotiation | Transferable skill | 3.00 | 3.75 |
| Coordination | Transferable skill | 3.00 | 3.50 |
| Systems Analysis | Transferable skill | 3.00 | 3.50 |
| Instructing | Transferable skill | 3.00 | 3.12 |
| Time Management | Transferable skill | 3.00 | 3.12 |
| Science | Essential skill | 2.75 | 3.62 |
| Management of Personnel Resources | Transferable skill | 2.75 | 3.00 |
| Operations Analysis | Transferable skill | 2.50 | 2.62 |
| Mathematics | Essential skill | 2.00 | 2.00 |
| Management of Financial Resources | Transferable skill | 1.62 | 0.62 |
| Operations Monitoring | Transferable skill | 1.62 | 0.62 |
| Programming | Transferable skill | 1.62 | 0.62 |
| Management of Material Resources | Transferable skill | 1.50 | 0.50 |
| Quality Control Analysis | Transferable skill | 1.50 | 0.50 |
| Technology Design | Transferable skill | 1.50 | 0.50 |
| Equipment Maintenance | Transferable skill | 1.00 | not rated |
| Equipment Selection | Transferable skill | 1.00 | not rated |
| Installation | Transferable skill | 1.00 | not rated |
| Operation and Control | Transferable skill | 1.00 | not rated |
| Repairing | Transferable skill | 1.00 | not rated |
| Troubleshooting | Transferable skill | 1.00 | not rated |
Knowledge (33) and abilities (52)
| Name | Importance | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Therapy and Counseling | 5.00 | 6.96 |
| Psychology | 4.96 | 6.71 |
| Customer and Personal Service | 4.50 | 5.93 |
| English Language | 4.32 | 4.36 |
| Sociology and Anthropology | 4.15 | 5.14 |
| Education and Training | 3.75 | 5.04 |
| Administrative | 3.61 | 4.39 |
| Telecommunications | 3.11 | 2.14 |
| Philosophy and Theology | 2.96 | 4.00 |
| Administration and Management | 2.96 | 3.54 |
| Computers and Electronics | 2.89 | 3.39 |
| Law and Government | 2.89 | 2.93 |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 2.86 | 2.68 |
| Communications and Media | 2.82 | 2.89 |
| Personnel and Human Resources | 2.64 | 2.86 |
| Public Safety and Security | 2.64 | 2.46 |
| Sales and Marketing | 2.46 | 3.04 |
| Economics and Accounting | 2.32 | 2.14 |
| Foreign Language | 2.21 | 2.29 |
| Biology | 2.21 | 2.14 |
| Mathematics | 2.11 | 2.32 |
| History and Archeology | 1.96 | 2.00 |
| Geography | 1.71 | 1.57 |
| Production and Processing | 1.54 | 0.89 |
| Transportation | 1.50 | 0.86 |
| Fine Arts | 1.43 | 0.79 |
| Engineering and Technology | 1.25 | not rated |
| Chemistry | 1.21 | not rated |
| Design | 1.11 | not rated |
| Physics | 1.04 | not rated |
| Building and Construction | 1.00 | not rated |
| Food Production | 1.00 | not rated |
| Mechanical | 1.00 | not rated |
| Name | Importance | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Oral Comprehension | 4.88 | 5.00 |
| Oral Expression | 4.62 | 5.00 |
| Problem Sensitivity | 4.25 | 5.00 |
| Inductive Reasoning | 4.12 | 5.00 |
| Deductive Reasoning | 4.12 | 4.88 |
| Speech Clarity | 4.12 | 4.62 |
| Speech Recognition | 4.12 | 4.50 |
| Written Comprehension | 4.12 | 4.38 |
| Written Expression | 4.12 | 4.25 |
| Category Flexibility | 3.62 | 4.00 |
| Fluency of Ideas | 3.62 | 4.00 |
| Information Ordering | 3.62 | 4.00 |
| Originality | 3.38 | 4.00 |
| Selective Attention | 3.25 | 3.50 |
| Near Vision | 3.12 | 3.62 |
| Flexibility of Closure | 3.00 | 3.12 |
| Memorization | 2.88 | 2.88 |
| Speed of Closure | 2.88 | 2.88 |
| Far Vision | 2.62 | 2.75 |
| Time Sharing | 2.50 | 2.00 |
| Perceptual Speed | 2.25 | 2.50 |
| Mathematical Reasoning | 2.12 | 2.12 |
| Auditory Attention | 2.12 | 2.00 |
| Number Facility | 2.00 | 2.00 |
| Visualization | 2.00 | 2.00 |
| Visual Color Discrimination | 1.75 | 1.00 |
| Hearing Sensitivity | 1.75 | 0.88 |
| Finger Dexterity | 1.62 | 0.88 |
| Trunk Strength | 1.62 | 0.88 |
| Explosive Strength | 1.62 | 0.62 |
| Gross Body Coordination | 1.62 | 0.62 |
| Gross Body Equilibrium | 1.62 | 0.62 |
| Reaction Time | 1.62 | 0.62 |
| Response Orientation | 1.62 | 0.62 |
| Static Strength | 1.62 | 0.62 |
| Manual Dexterity | 1.50 | 0.50 |
| Stamina | 1.50 | 0.50 |
| Wrist-Finger Speed | 1.38 | 0.50 |
| Dynamic Strength | 1.25 | not rated |
| Extent Flexibility | 1.25 | not rated |
| Multilimb Coordination | 1.25 | not rated |
| Speed of Limb Movement | 1.25 | not rated |
| Rate Control | 1.12 | not rated |
| Spatial Orientation | 1.12 | not rated |
| Arm-Hand Steadiness | 1.00 | not rated |
| Control Precision | 1.00 | not rated |
| Depth Perception | 1.00 | not rated |
| Dynamic Flexibility | 1.00 | not rated |
| Glare Sensitivity | 1.00 | not rated |
| Night Vision | 1.00 | not rated |
| Peripheral Vision | 1.00 | not rated |
| Sound Localization | 1.00 | not rated |
Software used
Examples from O*NET data. "Hot" and "in demand" are O*NET flags for technologies often listed in job postings.
- Microsoft Access hot
- Microsoft Excel hot
- Microsoft Office software hot
- Microsoft Outlook hot
- Microsoft PowerPoint hot
- Microsoft Word hot
- Oracle PeopleSoft hot
- Client information database systems
- Database software
- Email software
- Google Classroom
- Management information systems MIS
- Microsoft Dynamics
- Microsoft Internet Explorer
- Netscape Navigator
- Patient electronic medical record EMR software
- Scheduling software
- Statistical software
- Test interpretation software
- Web browser software
Where it concentrates
BLS doesn't publish wages for Mental Health Counselors separately. These are the figures for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors (21-1018), a combined BLS occupation that includes it.
Metro areas ranked by BLS location quotient: the occupation's share of the area's jobs divided by its share of all US jobs. Above 1 means more concentrated than the nation. Metros employing fewer than 100 are left out.
| Metro area | Employment | Location quotient | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bloomington, IN | 960 | 4.13 | $52,710 |
| Pueblo, CO | 700 | 3.60 | $58,380 |
| Bay City, MI | 350 | 3.24 | $37,620 |
| Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA | 730 | 3.11 | $52,060 |
| Amherst Town-Northampton, MA | 590 | 2.85 | $58,810 |
| Mankato, MN | 500 | 2.80 | $63,460 |
| Springfield, MA | 1,790 | 2.80 | $58,750 |
| Altoona, PA | 510 | 2.76 | $46,260 |
| Lynchburg, VA | 780 | 2.55 | $60,220 |
| Pittsfield, MA | 440 | 2.44 | $55,100 |