Certified massage therapists provide their client's massage treatment for muscle relief, joint pain, and other health problems. They help them relax, relieve stress, and improve circulation for pain-free movement and an overall healthier body.
You have the opportunity to work in a massage parlor, a health care facility, or as an independent freelancer visiting your clients in their homes. Working together with physicians and physiotherapists is also common. You will consult your clients to understand their conditions to the fullest, explain the treatment you provide and answer any questions they might have.
You will need to know and use techniques that are both safe for you and your clients. You will have to be friendly and customer-oriented, tending to your clients' needs in a professional manner while keeping your equipment and area clean and safe to use.
Certified Massage Therapist Overview
Working as a Certified Massage Therapist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a certified massage therapist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.06 an hour? That's $52,134 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 22% and produce 35,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Certified Massage Therapist Do
There are certain skills that many certified massage therapists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, empathy and integrity.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a certified massage therapist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 63.8% of certified massage therapists included customer service, while 9.7% of resumes included massage therapy, and 5.7% of resumes included individual needs. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
How To Become a Certified Massage Therapist
If you're interested in becoming a certified massage therapist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 18.8% of certified massage therapists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.0% of certified massage therapists have master's degrees. Even though some certified massage therapists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a certified massage therapist. When we researched the most common majors for a certified massage therapist, we found that they most commonly earn associate degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on certified massage therapist resumes include diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a certified massage therapist. In fact, many certified massage therapist jobs require experience in a role such as massage therapist. Meanwhile, many certified massage therapists also have previous career experience in roles such as administrative assistant or customer service representative.
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Certified Massage Therapist Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of massage therapist you might progress to a role such as registered nurse eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title general manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Certified Massage Therapist
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Hand & Stone Certified Massage Therapist Certified Massage Therapist | Hand & Stone Hand & Stone | 01/14/2021 01/14/2021 | $80,00001/14/2021 $80,000 |
Health & Hospital Corporation Certified Massage Therapist-PRN Certified Massage Therapist-PRN | Health & Hospital Corporation Health & Hospital Corporation | 09/15/2020 09/15/2020 | $38,46309/15/2020 $38,463 |
Elements Massage Certified Massage Therapist Certified Massage Therapist | Elements Massage Elements Massage | 01/29/2020 01/29/2020 | $73,04501/29/2020 $73,045 |
Mayo Clinic Certified Massage Therapist Certified Massage Therapist | Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic | 01/21/2020 01/21/2020 | $42,55401/21/2020 $42,554 |
Massage Envy Certified Massage Therapist Certified Massage Therapist | Massage Envy Massage Envy | 11/14/2019 11/14/2019 | $60,52311/14/2019 $60,523 |
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Top Skills For a Certified Massage Therapist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 63.8% of certified massage therapists listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and empathy are important as well.
- Customer Service, 63.8%
- Massage Therapy, 9.7%
- Individual Needs, 5.7%
- Clients Needs, 4.4%
- Spa Services, 2.3%
- Other Skills, 14.1% See All Certified Massage Therapist Skills