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medical family therapy/therapist

Types of Degrees medical family therapy/therapist Majors Are Earning

Those studying medical family therapy/therapist have the option of earning degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Doctor’s Degree	6

What medical family therapy/therapist Majors Need to Know

Programs in medical family therapy/therapist build a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that medical family therapy/therapist graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

According to O*NET, a major in medical family therapy/therapist emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• Psychology — Importance 4.9 / 5; level 6.3 / 7.
• Therapy and Counseling — Importance 4.9 / 5; level 6.7 / 7.
• Sociology and Anthropology — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.6 / 7.
• English Language — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.4 / 7.
• Customer and Personal Service — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 5.8 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

The skill set emphasized by a medical family therapy/therapist program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Active Listening — Importance 4.5 / 5; level 4.9 / 7.
• Social Perceptiveness — Importance 4.3 / 5; level 5.4 / 7.
• Speaking — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.2 / 7.
• Service Orientation — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.2 / 7.

Abilities

Innate abilities most relevant to medical family therapy/therapist careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Oral Expression — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.7 / 7.
• Speech Clarity — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.1 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Problem Sensitivity — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.4 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, medical family therapy/therapist graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Assisting and Caring for Others	4.7 / 7
Documenting/Recording Information	4.5 / 7
Getting Information	4.5 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	4.5 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	4.4 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	4.3 / 7
Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others	4.2 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	4.1 / 7
Communicating with People Outside the Organization	4.0 / 7
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.0 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by medical family therapy/therapist professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	—
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	—
Zoom	Video conferencing software	✓
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Microsoft Teams	Project management software	✓
Google Meet	Video conferencing software	✓
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	—
Saner Software ShrinkRapt	Medical software	—
Care Paths eRecord	Medical software	—
TheraManager	Medical software	—
Advantage Software Psych Advantage	Medical software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for medical family therapy/therapist graduates include:

• Outpatient Therapist
• Play Therapist
• Behavior Intervention Specialist
• Behavior Support Specialist
• Family Therapist
• Behavior Technician (Behavior Tech)
• Clinical Therapist
• Marriage and Family Counselor
• ABA Behavior Therapist (Applied Behavior Analysis Behavior Therapist)
• Human Relations Counselor
• Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT)
• Behavioral Health Clinician
• Military and Family Life Counselor
• Bilingual Clinician
• Marriage Therapist

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to medical family therapy/therapist graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Master’s degree	74.8%
Bachelor’s degree	7.2%
First professional degree	6.8%
Post-master’s certificate	6.7%
Doctoral degree	2.5%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	1.1%
Post-doctoral training	0.9%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Who Is Earning a Degree in medical family therapy/therapist?

Gender Distribution

This field has a relatively balanced gender distribution: 50% women and 50% men among medical family therapy/therapist graduates.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	3	50.0%
Men	3	50.0%

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the national level, the racial-ethnic distribution of medical family therapy/therapist graduates is as follows:

Race / Ethnicity	Graduates	Share
White	5	83.3%
Black or African American	1	16.7%

^{See minority definition below.}

How Much Do medical family therapy/therapist Graduates Earn?

Federal data tracks median earnings of medical family therapy/therapist graduates 1, 4, and 5 years after completion. Wages typically rise steadily as graduates gain experience and move into mid-career roles.

Years Out	Median Earnings
1 year	$46,066
4 years	$46,824
5 years	$52,641

By year 5 out, median earnings rise to $52,641 — roughly 14% above the 1-year mark.

^{Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings tracker.}

Is a Degree in medical family therapy/therapist Worth It?

Looking purely at the federal earnings tracker, medical family therapy/therapist graduates earn a median of $46,824 four years after completion — roughly 23% above the national median for workers with only a high school diploma (~$38,000).

^{ROI estimate compares the program’s 4-yr median earnings against the 2023 BLS CPS median earnings for high-school-only workers. Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard + BLS Current Population Survey.}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	CIP Code
Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions	51.15
Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling	51.1506
Clinical/Medical Social Work	51.1503
Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling	51.1504
Genetic Counseling/Counselor	51.1509
Hospice and Palliative Care	51.1512
Infant/Toddler Mental Health Services	51.1510
Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling	51.1505
Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions, Other	51.1599
Mental Health Counseling/Counselor	51.1508
Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician	51.1502
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy	51.1507

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.