How To Become An Adult Case Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is an adult case manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Javier Casado Pérez Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an adult case manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.76 an hour? That's $39,017 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 52,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an adult case manager?

Dr. Javier Casado Pérez Ph.D.

Counselor Education, Portland State University

New professionals entering the mental health counseling professions must expect substantive differences in the client's needs and goals for the counseling process. The global pandemic has increased both stress and social isolation, making the counselor's job even more critical, as they are often the client's only non-work-related virtual interaction. With the global pandemic and widespread anti-racist demonstrations, counselors should anticipate clients' desire to discuss work stress and burnout, parenting and caretaker stress, culture, identity development, and racial trauma, virtual fatigue, and difficulties in social relationships.

ScoreAdult Case ManagerUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $39,017

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.9

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.47%

Asian 5.99%

Black or African American 11.28%

Hispanic or Latino 15.76%

Unknown 4.54%

White 60.96%

Gender

female 77.87%

male 22.13%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an adult case manager

Explore adult case manager education requirements

Most common adult case manager degrees

Bachelor's

73.7 %

Master's

14.0 %

Associate

9.5 %

Start to develop specific adult case manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	18.98%
Crisis Intervention	8.49%
Substance Abuse	7.92%
Management Services	7.84%
Mental Health	6.78%

Complete relevant adult case manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New adult case managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an adult case manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real adult case manager resumes.

Research adult case manager duties and responsibilities

Provide clients support with basic ADL's (shopping, payee services, budgets, managing and attending appointments).
Perform concurrent review to assure appropriateness of admission, inpatient/acute care, rehabilitation/SNF status, and discharge using establish InterQual guidelines.
Participate in IEP meetings and work with school administrators to advocate in behalf of clients and families.
Attend IEP meetings to review and modify educational needs/goals affording academic success.

Prepare your adult case manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your adult case manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an adult case manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable adult case manager resume templates

Build a professional adult case manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your adult case manager resume.