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Life coach vs psychologist

The differences between life coaches and psychologists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a psychologist has an average salary of $97,803, which is higher than the $41,947 average annual salary of a life coach.

The top three skills for a life coach include relationship building, mental health and crisis intervention. The most important skills for a psychologist are patients, crisis intervention, and rehabilitation.

Life coach vs psychologist overview

Life CoachPsychologist
Yearly salary$41,947$97,803
Hourly rate$20.17$47.02
Growth rate20%6%
Number of jobs25,64212,516
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 55%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age3647
Years of experience6-

What does a life coach do?

A Life Coach specializes in presenting techniques and mental roadmaps to help clients progress towards their short and long-term goals in various aspects of life. Their responsibilities include facilitating discussions in a one-on-one or group setting, identifying the clients' needs, developing action plans and other strategies to reach goals, and encouraging the clients' progress. A Life Coach may also create various projects and programs to help clients navigate through multiple paths and obstacles, providing support along the way.

What does a psychologist do?

Sales managers are responsible for leading the organization's sales team. They oversee the progress and performance of the whole team, set area assignments to team members, and set weekly or monthly quotas. Sales managers oversee training team members during onboarding and providing further coaching to help them achieve their goals. They manage the challenges that team members may meet and help mitigate any problems that come along the way. Sales managers also set the strategic direction of the sales team and follow through by ensuring that the team's activities are in line with the goals.

Life coach vs psychologist salary

Life coaches and psychologists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Life CoachPsychologist
Average salary$41,947$97,803
Salary rangeBetween $27,000 And $64,000Between $68,000 And $139,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Sierra Corporation
Best paying industry-Health Care

Differences between life coach and psychologist education

There are a few differences between a life coach and a psychologist in terms of educational background:

Life CoachPsychologist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 55%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common majorPsychologyPsychology
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University

Life coach vs psychologist demographics

Here are the differences between life coaches' and psychologists' demographics:

Life CoachPsychologist
Average age3647
Gender ratioMale, 32.5% Female, 67.5%Male, 35.2% Female, 64.8%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.9% Asian, 5.4% White, 66.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 5.1% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 4.2% White, 75.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage8%20%

Differences between life coach and psychologist duties and responsibilities

Life coach example responsibilities.

  • Assist clients with personal and professional coaching, copywriting, managing, marketing and promotions.
  • Incorporate MBTI and other coaching tools to help executives and sales teams achieve increase productivity.
  • Train and experience at managing challenging classroom situations using CPI methods and positive behavior reinforcement practices.
  • Perform additional responsibilities as deemed appropriate by school and district supervisors such as organizing and managing elementary school mathematics information nights.
  • Deliver MBTI leadership workshop for executive staff providing organizational development solutions.
  • Provide support to individuals in vocational rehabilitation and work with them learning employment and socialization skills.
  • Show more

Psychologist example responsibilities.

  • Supervise mental health staff, including the overseeing of the provision of mental health services in a correctional facility.
  • Provide EMDR therapy for clients with trauma and anxiety.
  • Perform tests to diagnose autism in children or tests for the detection of autism at an early age.
  • Provide supervision and mentoring for APA Pre-Doctoral interns.
  • Supervise clinical activities of doctoral level psychology interns in APA accredit internship program.
  • Evaluate veterans for psychological disorders that may have resulted secondary to their military service for compensation purposes.
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Life coach vs psychologist skills

Common life coach skills
  • Relationship Building, 17%
  • Mental Health, 10%
  • Crisis Intervention, 6%
  • Community Resources, 6%
  • Developmental Disabilities, 5%
  • Behavior Modification, 5%
Common psychologist skills
  • Patients, 18%
  • Crisis Intervention, 7%
  • Rehabilitation, 6%
  • Mental Illness, 5%
  • Clinical Supervision, 5%
  • APA, 4%

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