Psychologists are responsible for evaluating, diagnosing, and treating people for mental, emotional, behavioral, educational, and developmental disorders.
Psychologists in the areas of psychology, therapy, and research typically require a Ph.D. (PhD. or PsyD) from a recognized program in psychology. Additionally, they need a license in their state of practice. While licensure requirements vary by state and system, most require a doctoral degree in psychology, completion of an internship, a minimum number of years of supervised experience, and passing of an exam. The best psychologists have excellent interpersonal skills and are very trustworthy. And in the majority of cases, the best psychologists are licensed.
According to the most current Occupational Outlook Handbook from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median national annual salary for licensed psychologists is $70,580. Actual salaries may vary greatly based on specialization within the field, location, years of experience, and a variety of other factors.
How to Become a Licensed Psychologist
What is a Licensed Psychologist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Licensed Psychologist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $41.95 an hour? That's $87,258 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 14% and produce 26,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Licensed Psychologist Do
There are certain skills that many Licensed Psychologists 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 Analytical skills, Communication skills and Integrity.
How To Become a Licensed Psychologist
If you're interested in becoming a Licensed Psychologist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 39.5% of Licensed Psychologists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 21.3% of Licensed Psychologists have master's degrees. Even though most Licensed Psychologists have a college degree, it's impossible 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 Licensed Psychologist. When we researched the most common majors for a Licensed Psychologist, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Doctoral Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Licensed Psychologist resumes include Master's Degree degrees or Associate Degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Licensed Psychologist. In fact, many Licensed Psychologist jobs require experience in a role such as Clinical Psychology Internship. Meanwhile, many Licensed Psychologists also have previous career experience in roles such as Internship or Psychologist.
What is the right job for my career path?
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And if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Licensed Psychologist 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 Clinical Supervisor you might progress to a role such as Clinical Director eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title Clinical Director.
Licensed Psychologist Jobs You Might Like
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 Licensed Psychologist
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Choose From 10+ Customizable Licensed Psychologist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Licensed Psychologist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Licensed Psychologist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Find the best Licensed Psychologist job for you
Licensed Psychologist Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Licensed Psychologist Jobs - $133K and Up
- Work From Home Licensed Psychologist Jobs
- Entry Level Licensed Psychologist Jobs
- Part Time Licensed Psychologist Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Licensed Psychologist Jobs
Top Colleges for Licensed Psychologists
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
2. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
3. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
4. Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO • Private
5. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
6. University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, CA • Private
7. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
8. Hunter College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
9. University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, MD • Private
10. Clemson University
Clemson, SC • Private
Find the best Licensed Psychologist job for you
Licensed Psychologist Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Licensed Psychologist Jobs - $133K and Up
- Work From Home Licensed Psychologist Jobs
- Entry Level Licensed Psychologist Jobs
- Part Time Licensed Psychologist Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Licensed Psychologist Jobs
Online Courses For Licensed Psychologist That You May Like
ACCREDITED CERTIFIED course on CBT, Therapy and Counselling for Anorexia, Bulimia, Binge Eating Disorder, work home...
This Cannabis, Mental Health, and Brain Disorders course is designed to have you think critically about the health effects of cannabis (i.e, marijuana) in the context of several mental health and neurocognitive disorders. You'll be able to identify key features of several anxiety disorders (e.g, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, PTSD), major depression, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseas...
Top Skills For a Licensed Psychologist
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, 19.1% of Licensed Psychologists listed Group Therapy on their resume, but soft skills such as Analytical skills and Communication skills are important as well.
Best States For a Licensed Psychologist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a Licensed Psychologist. The best states for people in this position are California, Nevada, Massachusetts, and New York. Licensed Psychologists make the most in California with an average salary of $106,014. Whereas in Nevada and Massachusetts, they would average $102,402 and $99,161, respectively. While Licensed Psychologists would only make an average of $97,696 in New York, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. California
$106,014
Avg. Salary
2. Nevada
$102,402
Avg. Salary
3. New Jersey
$94,978
Avg. Salary
How Do Licensed Psychologist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Licensed Psychologist Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ Licensed Psychologists and discovered their number of Licensed Psychologist opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that New York State Education Department was the best, especially with an average salary of $77,561. UnitedHealth Group follows up with an average salary of $58,436, and then comes State of Nevada with an average of $70,815. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a Licensed Psychologist. The employers include Magellan Health, UnitedHealth Group, and Vida Diagnostics