Occupation / job
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
Median annual pay. Half earn less than this.
Hourly at a standard 2,080-hour year. We do not yet have unpaid-time or cost data for this, so this is not an adjusted figure.
The middle half. A quarter earn below this range.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 · view
What this figure cannot tell you
It covers people EMPLOYED in this occupation. Anyone who trained for it and was never hired is not in the median above, and neither is anyone doing the work self-employed. No verified count of qualified people exists for this occupation, so this page shows none rather than an estimate. Why that matters · The occupations where we could source it
Who this suits
The $60,280 midpoint sits $4.93 an hour above the $50,020 typical American job. That is a 21% premium, and premiums are rationed: whatever rations this one is the thing standing between you and Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers.
With 132,810 in the occupation, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers is a big field with a visible internal market. Big fields reward moving: the pay you can negotiate on arrival usually beats what the annual review will give you for staying.
Counselling and social work suit people who can hold a caseload of problems they cannot fix and still come back on Monday. Emotional stamina is the binding constraint, not credentials.
We carry no verified training length for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers — BLS reports pay, not preparation, and we will not estimate it.
Who should not do this
A quarter earn below $47,070 and a quarter above $79,730: a 1.7x ratio, $32,660 between the ends. That is an ordinary working spread, which also means experience and location explain most of it and there is no shortcut through the middle.
At $47,070 — $22.62 an hour — the 25th percentile of this field sits essentially at the $50,020 all-occupation midpoint. Being in the bottom quarter of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers still means being paid like the average American worker.
Avoid it if you need to fix things. Most of this caseload cannot be fixed by anyone at your desk.
You will not find a "what share make it" figure here. 132,810 is a headcount of the employed, which is a numerator without a denominator — everyone who qualified and never got hired is missing from it, and we will not estimate them to complete a percentage.
What the spread tells you
1.7x between $47,070 and $79,730 is the ordinary shape of an occupation where experience and region both matter and neither dominates. $60,280 is a fair expectation by mid-career, not on day one.
In cash terms the middle half of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers runs $47,070 to $79,730 — $32,660 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $60,280.
Getting to $79,730, the 75th percentile, is worth $19,450 a year more than the $60,280 midpoint and $32,660 more than the $47,070 a quarter of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers settle for.
The climb from $60,280 to $79,730 is $19,450, against $13,210 down to $47,070. Rather more of the range sits above the midpoint than below it, so the realistic upside in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers is larger than the realistic downside.
Per hour at a standard full-time year that is $28.98 at the midpoint for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers, $22.62 at the 25th percentile and $38.33 at the 75th, against $24.04 for the typical American job.
What these figures are, and what they are not
This is payroll data: it comes from employers, about people they employ. Anyone doing the work of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers for themselves is not in it, and there is no reason to assume $60,280 describes them.
The hourly number on this page is $60,280 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers, so it is arithmetic rather than an effective rate.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else