Healthcare Social Workers
SOC 21-1022 · 2024-2034
Provide individuals, families, and groups with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Services include advising family caregivers. Provide patients with information and counseling, and make referrals for other services. May also provide case and care management or interventions designed to promote health, prevent disease, and address barriers to access to healthcare.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
The job this trains for
- Typical pay in California
- $92,170per year
- Projected openings
- 19,610
- Projected change
- +19.4%
- Usually needs
- Master's degree
Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Rapid Growth
The Department's own designation, made from its national projections. It is not this project's assessment and it is not California's: every other figure on this page comes from California's projection, which can point the other way and for some occupations does.
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Critical Thinking
- Active Listening
- Coordination
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| Napa MSA (Napa County) | $145,335 | 160 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County) | $136,399 | 200 |
| San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) | $122,658 | 1,010 |
| Vallejo MSA (Solano County) | $119,081 | 180 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $117,591 | 170 |
| Chico MSA (Butte County) | $113,020 | 70 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties) | $108,881 | 830 |
| Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) | $102,117 | 1,590 |
| San Rafael MD (Marin County) | $101,750 | 170 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $100,016 | 1,130 |
| Salinas MSA (Monterey County) | $99,472 | 130 |
| Visalia MSA (Tulare County) | $96,472 | 170 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County) | $95,969 | 200 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County) | $95,764 | 110 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $95,312 | 1,650 |
| Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties) | $94,131 | 610 |
| Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County) | $90,279 | 200 |
| Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County) | $89,857 | 1,770 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $87,317 | 6,250 |
| Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County) | $87,248 | 310 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $86,940 | 80 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | $85,379 | 1,580 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County) | $85,225 | 360 |
| Merced MSA (Merced County) | $84,670 | 60 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $84,670 | 260 |
| Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County) | $84,475 | 40 |
| Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties) | $82,554 | 30 |
| El Centro MSA (Imperial County) | $80,284 | 40 |
| Redding MSA (Shasta County) | $78,456 | 50 |
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties) | $71,348 | 60 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $70,742 | 110 |
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| The job this trains for | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers | $81,211 | 22,620 | +20.1% |
| Child, Family, and School Social Workers | $67,025 | 60,640 | +14.1% |
| Marriage and Family Therapists | $69,184 | 46,570 | +30.7% |
| Rehabilitation Counselors | $45,725 | 17,450 | +14.8% |
| Social and Human Service Assistants | $52,520 | 73,580 | +16.1% |
| Clinical and Counseling Psychologists | $119,247 | 9,800 | +24% |
Leads to — 4
Medical Assistant
Kern High School District-Rop · Bakersfield · $1,800
Behavioral Health Counseling (BHC) Program
Loyola Marymount University - LMU Extension · Los Angeles · $4,200
Allied Health Associate of Science Degree
Mendocino College · Ukiah · $6,960
Case Management
UCSD Division of Extended Studies · La Jolla · $2,250