Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
SOC 21-1023 · 2024-2034
Assess and treat individuals with mental, emotional, or substance abuse problems, including abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and/or other drugs. Activities may include individual and group therapy, crisis intervention, case management, client advocacy, prevention, and education.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
The job this trains for
- Typical pay in California
- $81,211per year
- Projected openings
- 22,620
- Projected change
- +20.1%
- 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
- Active Listening
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County) | $119,800 | 120 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties) | $105,553 | 860 |
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties) | $103,848 | 40 |
| Vallejo MSA (Solano County) | $101,362 | 90 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $95,928 | 130 |
| Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County) | $91,932 | 70 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $85,985 | 1,450 |
| Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) | $82,376 | 1,030 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County) | $79,945 | 160 |
| Salinas MSA (Monterey County) | $79,247 | 100 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $78,389 | 6,570 |
| San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) | $77,116 | 520 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $75,960 | 1,280 |
| San Rafael MD (Marin County) | $75,687 | 80 |
| Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County) | $75,508 | 240 |
| Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County) | $75,138 | 140 |
| Redding MSA (Shasta County) | $75,097 | 70 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | $71,748 | 860 |
| Napa MSA (Napa County) | $70,115 | 240 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $68,215 | 80 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $66,438 | 50 |
| Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County) | $66,390 | 1,500 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County) | $66,119 | 220 |
| Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties) | $63,736 | 520 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County) | $63,603 | 50 |
| Visalia MSA (Tulare County) | $61,805 | 130 |
| El Centro MSA (Imperial County) | $59,987 | 50 |
| Merced MSA (Merced County) | $59,515 | 40 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $59,515 | 190 |
| Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties) | $55,858 | 30 |
| Chico MSA (Butte County) | $52,817 | 40 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare Social Workers | $92,170 | 19,610 | +19.4% |
| Marriage and Family Therapists | $69,184 | 46,570 | +30.7% |
| Rehabilitation Counselors | $45,725 | 17,450 | +14.8% |
| Clinical and Counseling Psychologists | $119,247 | 9,800 | +24% |
| Child, Family, and School Social Workers | $67,025 | 60,640 | +14.1% |
| Psychiatrists | $363,395 | 2,100 | +10.5% |
Leads to — 3
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