Marriage and family therapists help people manage problems with their family and other relationships.
Marriage and family therapists typically do the following:
Marriage and family therapists use a variety of techniques and tools to help their clients. Many apply cognitive behavioral therapy, a goal-oriented approach that helps clients understand harmful thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and teaches how to replace them with positive, life-enhancing ones.
Many marriage and family therapists work in private practice. They must market their practice to prospective clients and work with insurance companies and clients to get payment for their services.
Marriage and family therapists work with individuals, couples, and families. They bring a family-centered perspective to treatment, even when treating individuals. They evaluate family roles and development, to understand how clients’ families affect their mental health. They treat the clients’ relationships, not just the clients themselves. They address issues, such as low self-esteem, stress, addiction, and substance abuse.
Marriage and family therapists coordinate patient treatment with other professionals, such as psychologists and social workers.
Marriage and family therapists held about 65,300 jobs in 2021. The largest employers of marriage and family therapists were as follows:
| Individual and family services | 29% |
| Offices of other health practitioners | 24 |
| Self-employed workers | 13 |
| Outpatient care centers | 11 |
| State government, excluding education and hospitals | 7 |
Marriage and family therapists work in a variety of settings, such as mental health centers, substance abuse treatment centers, and hospitals. They also work in private practice and in Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), which are mental health programs that some employers provide to help employees deal with personal problems.
Marriage and family therapists generally work full time. Some therapists work evenings and weekends to accommodate their clients’ schedules.
Marriage and family therapists typically need a master’s degree and a license to practice.
To become a marriage and family therapist, applicants need a master’s degree in psychology, marriage and family therapy, or a related mental health field. Although a bachelor’s degree in psychology is common, most undergraduate fields are acceptable for entering a master’s degree program.
Marriage and family therapy programs teach students about how marriages, families, and relationships function and how these relationships can affect mental and emotional disorders.
There are several organizations that accredit counseling programs, including the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP), the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), and the Masters in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council (MPCAC).
Candidates gain hands-on experience through postdegree supervised clinical work, sometimes referred to as an internship or residency. In training, they learn to provide family therapy, group therapy, psychotherapy, and other therapeutic interventions, under the supervision of a licensed counselor.
All states require marriage and family therapists to be licensed. Licensure requires a master’s degree and 2,000 to 4,000 hours of postdegree supervised clinical experience, sometimes referred to as an internship or residency. In addition, therapists must pass a state-recognized exam and complete annual continuing education classes.
Contact and licensing information for marriage and family therapists is available through the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards.
Compassion. Marriage and family therapists often work with people who are dealing with stressful and difficult situations, so they must be compassionate and empathize with their clients.
Interpersonal skills. Marriage and family therapists work with different types of people. They spend most of their time working directly with clients and other professionals and must be able to encourage good relationships.
Listening skills. Marriage and family therapists need to give their full attention to their clients to understand their problems, values, and goals.
Organizational skills. Marriage and family therapists in private practice must keep track of payments and work with insurance companies.
Speaking skills. Marriage and family therapists need to be able to communicate with clients effectively. They must express information in a way that clients can understand easily.
Median annual wages, May 2021
The median annual wage for marriage and family therapists was $49,880 in May 2021. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $37,050, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $96,520.
In May 2021, the median annual wages for marriage and family therapists in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:
| State government, excluding education and hospitals | $77,960 |
| Outpatient care centers | 57,930 |
| Offices of other health practitioners | 49,630 |
| Individual and family services | 48,340 |
Marriage and family therapists generally work full time. Some therapists work evenings and weekends to accommodate their clients’ schedules.
Percent change in employment, projected 2021-31
Employment of marriage and family therapists is projected to grow 14 percent from 2021 to 2031, much faster than the average for all occupations.
About 6,400 openings for marriage and family therapists are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Growth is expected due to the increasing use of integrated care, which is a treatment of multiple problems at one time by a group of specialists. In providing integrated care, marriage and family therapists are working with counselors such as substance abuse, behavior disorder, or mental health counselors to address patients' issues as a team.
| Occupational Title | SOC Code | Employment, 2021 | Projected Employment, 2031 | Change, 2021-31 | Employment by Industry | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percent | Numeric | ||||||
SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program |
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Marriage and family therapists |
21-1013 | 65,300 | 74,300 | 14 | 9,100 | Get data | |
For more information about accredited programs, visit
Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education
Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs
Masters in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council
For more information about marriage and family therapists, visit
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards
For general information about counseling and for information about counseling specialties, visit
American Counseling Association
For information about contacting state regulating boards, visit
National Board for Certified Counselors