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Job outlook for practitioners in the United States
Practitioner job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected practitioner job growth rate is 40% from 2018-2028.
About 118,600 new jobs for practitioners are projected over the next decade.
Practitioner salaries have increased 11% for practitioners in the last 5 years.
There are over 15,054 practitioners currently employed in the United States.
There are 42,062 active practitioner job openings in the US.
The average practitioner salary is $84,058.
Are practitioner jobs in demand?
Practitioner job and salary trends over time
Practitioner jobs over time
Practitioner job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15,054 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 13,552 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 12,867 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 11,523 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 10,666 | 0.00% |
Average practitioner salary over time
Practitioner salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $84,058 | $40.41 | +1.7% |
| 2025 | $82,658 | $39.74 | +2.6% |
| 2024 | $80,558 | $38.73 | +3.0% |
| 2023 | $78,187 | $37.59 | +2.9% |
| 2022 | $75,952 | $36.52 | +2.8% |
Practitioner jobs by state
Most common states for practitioners
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 149 | 11% |
| 2 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 100 | 10% |
| 3 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 603 | 9% |
| 4 | Alaska | 739,795 | 63 | 9% |
| 5 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 113 | 8% |
| 6 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 58 | 8% |
| 7 | Vermont | 623,657 | 51 | 8% |
| 8 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 234 | 7% |
| 9 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 78 | 7% |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 737 | 6% |
| 11 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 408 | 6% |
| 12 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 313 | 6% |
| 13 | New York | 19,849,399 | 1,061 | 5% |
| 14 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 305 | 5% |
| 15 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 301 | 5% |
| 16 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 223 | 5% |
| 17 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 102 | 5% |
| 18 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 45 | 5% |
| 19 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 37 | 5% |
| 20 | Nevada | 2,998,039 | 108 | 4% |
Most common cities for practitioners
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burlington | 2 | 8% | $92,749 |
| 2 | Bettendorf | 1 | 3% | $75,463 |
| 3 | Baltimore | 4 | 1% | $83,266 |
| 4 | Grand Rapids | 2 | 1% | $83,260 |
| 5 | Alhambra | 1 | 1% | $89,887 |
| 6 | Boca Raton | 1 | 1% | $56,620 |
| 7 | Canton | 1 | 1% | $101,645 |
| 8 | Columbia | 1 | 1% | $82,832 |
| 9 | Chicago | 3 | 0% | $92,284 |
| 10 | Houston | 2 | 0% | $77,143 |
| 11 | Washington | 2 | 0% | $88,566 |
| 12 | Aurora | 1 | 0% | $73,535 |
Practitioner job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of practitioner experts
Siena College
Nebraska Christian College
Kennesaw State University
Azusa Pacific University
The University of Texas Permian Basin
University of Nevada - Reno
University of Illinois-Springfield
Northern Kentucky University
Campbellsville University
California State University Northridge
Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary & Graduate School
National Association of Social Workers
Tuskegee University
NYU Silver School of Social Work
Millikin University
What will help Practitioners increase their earning potential?
Dr. J. Lendrum PhD: Trust yourself and follow your passions. It is possible to find a meaningful career that aligns with your core interests and values.
Elisa Martin Ph.D., MSW
Associate Professor of Social Work, Department Chair & Program DirectorSiena College
Social Sciences
What will help Practitioners increase their earning potential?
Elisa Martin Ph.D., MSW: The beauty of the social work profession is that the skills you learn from your degree can be applied in a range of settings and populations. Depending on your interest, you could be working with children, youth, adults, older adults, or in an area of interest like domestic violence, homelessness, child welfare, gerontology. The work you do could be one-on-one, with small groups, running programs within an organization, and/or working in communities.
What will help Practitioners increase their earning potential?
Cynthia Peters MSW: Social Work is a profession that can be in many places: hospital, university, government agencies, fire departments, court systems, homeless shelters, behavioral health facilities, schools, private practices, non-profit agencies, hospice care, senior programs, just to name a few. So depending on where a social workers find a job will determine what they do on a day to day basis.
Christine Kiewra
Associate Professor of PracticeNebraska Christian College
Human Development, Family Studies, And Related Services
What will help Practitioners increase their earning potential?
Christine Kiewra: Human Development Specialists have many options including specializing in working with young children, families, and elderly clients. Specialists can pursue working in large or small businesses, non-profit agencies, education, or government agencies.
What general advice would you give to a Practitioner?
Cindy Snell: Be able to articulate the skills and experience you have that are relevant to the jobs you are seeking - tell your story! Learn another language than English. Negotiate your hiring terms. Learn about loan forgiveness options.
What general advice would you give to a Practitioner?
Camille Coleman: Do your research within the state and or country, and or agency you are seeking potential employment. Look up the laws, compare them to other states, don't be afraid to look at all careers within the social work field, for example research in social work gets overlooked, facilitation, curriculum development, etc. Future social workers should seek reciprocity in multiple states to practice counseling services after obtaining one's licensure, if wanting to provide therapeutic services. This will give one leverage to negotiate higher salary requests.
What will help Practitioners increase their earning potential?
Dr. Aimée Vadnais Psy.D, LMFT: Research the going rates in your industry and ask colleagues to have a good idea. Recognize your worth and advocate for yourself during pay discussions. Highlight unique skill sets that may be valuable to the agency. Provide free education nights to benefit the community, potentially leading to clients. Find a niche population you enjoy working with and market your services specifically to this area.
What Practitioner skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Andrew Schoolnik: Dialogue and compromise. There are many apparatuses in today's society which are designed to pull people apart. Cable news and online news sites are famous examples of this. Add to this the echo chambers of social media where people largely associate with like-minded people while looking negatively at those with a different world view. This silo-ing of society is the antithesis of dialogue and compromise. Instead, it creates a class system of those who agree (the favored class) and those who disagree (the unfavored class).
On a macro level, the more the social worker dialogues with all stakeholders (those in favor and those opposed) the more that person gains knowledge and goodwill. This is at the heart of compromise - winning being defined as doing the most good for the most people.
On a clinical level, social workers work mutually with their clients. Learning about a client's values begins with dialogue (even when our values are different) and creating treatment plans is often-based on compromise (agency policy/goals, and client goals).
What will help Practitioners increase their earning potential?
Candace Riddley: I would encourage a beginning graduate to find a mentor who works in the field of social work. Mentorship is a great way for social workers to enhance their skills, knowledge, and career paths. This is an opportunity to provide guidance, support, feedback, and networking opportunities. Lastly, mentorship provides the opportunity to discuss job-related issues, career concerns, licensure, and challenges within the field. Mentorship is a great way to help graduates grow personally and professionally.
Sam Terrazas Ph.D.
Professor and Academic Chair Department of Social WorkThe University of Texas Permian Basin
Department of Social Work
What hard/technical skills are most important for Practitioners?
Sam Terrazas Ph.D.: Social workers practice in various areas of practice and organizational auspices that may differ in the hard/technical skills that are most important. In general, the hard/technical skills most important can be categorized based on the level of education-BSW (Bachelors of Social Work) versus MSW (Masters of Social Work).
BSW's practice in a range of organizations providing various types of services; however, in general practice in the realm of case management that requires that ability to demonstrate cultural responsiveness, develop an alliance with clients, apply NASW and a state's ethics and professional standards of practice, conduct assessments, and to develop plans to meet a client's goals.
MSW's practice in many areas such as administration, clinical, public policy and advocacy, child welfare, public safety, and health care. Each of these practice areas requires specific technical skills; however, in general, MSW's are trained to assess individuals, families, groups, and communities. To that end, MSW's must understand the cultural context and how socio/economic local, state, federal policies impact social welfare problems such as poverty, intimate partner violence, and mental illness. MSW's must possess strong engagement skills/therapeutic alliance-building, diagnostic/evaluation skills, ethical application of interventions and therapeutic approaches, and advocacy skills.
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.
Associate DeanUniversity of Nevada - Reno
School of Social Work
What soft skills should all Practitioners possess?
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.: Social workers need to be prepared to work in integrated health and multidisciplinary settings and act as change agents across systems of care. They work with various communities and people, and therefore soft skills are very important to their success. Some of the most important soft skills include:
-Teamwork. ...
-Communication Skills
-Problem-Solving Skills
-Ethics
-Flexibility/Adaptability
-Leadership skills
What general advice would you give to a Practitioner?
Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.: A master's degree in social work maximizes the potential of social workers salaries and their level of expertise to provide needed services. Programs offered by CSWE accredited programs like the University of Nevada Reno, School of Social Work can maximize the potential of a social worker's career.
What skills stand out on Practitioner resumes?
Youngjin Kang Ph.D.: In general, I think there are three things that will help job seekers in the field stand out on their resume, including (1) experiences, (2) practical skills, and (3) flexibility. First, let's talk about the experience. As a helping professional, your experience in the field helps you deal with a challenging situation smoothly. There are many unexpected situations where you do not know what to do. Such situations commonly occur in the field as working with your clients (e.g., your client talks about suicidal ideation). You can't experience everything, particularly if you are a student, but both direct and indirect experiences will benefit you. Direct experiences may be gained through previous jobs and internships while pursuing a degree. Indirect experiences may be gained through learning from co-workers, interacting with classmates who are already in the field, and reading and learning while in your degree program. Second, practical skills are important in many ways. Human services professionals' tasks vary by what agency they work for and clients they work with. To be able to complete given tasks, practical skills are helpful; they are not necessarily fancy or difficult-to-achieve, but something that can be practiced and gained if willing to learn. For example, they include but are not limited to documentation, computer skills (e.g., setting up online sessions), knowledge about professional ethics, assessment and intervention, communication skills, referral skills, and knowledge about resources in the communities. Finally, flexibility may help you survive in the field. For example, Covid-19 circumstances, as you may already know, have brought many unprecedented changes and challenges in our lives and the field. Many case workers in the field have been meeting their clients online, and ways of helping their clients had to be changed due to the ongoing pandemic. These changes occurred so quickly, which requires helping professionals in the field to find ways of meeting their client's needs as quickly as possible. In such situations, if helping professionals are not flexible, they would not be able to effectively assist their clients.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Practitioners?
Youngjin Kang Ph.D.: There are so many to name given that human services professionals should be versatile, but if I have to pick one, I would say assessment skills. One of the important tasks that human services professionals take on is to help their client's needs be met. If you don't know how to accurately assess the client's needs, how can you help them effectively? How can you help meet their needs? Based on the accurate and thorough assessment, human services professionals are able to develop treatment plans and implement best practices in the field.
What skills will help Practitioners earn the most?
Youngjin Kang Ph.D.: Self-care skills. It is imperative for human services professionals to practice self-care regularly. Human services jobs are emotionally and physically draining and challenging, although they are rewarding. If you do not know how to take care of yourself and your needs, how can you take care of others? If you do not practice self-care regularly, you are likely to experience burnout - no resilience to go back to your highest ability to help others. Many helping professionals put their client's needs first and neglect their needs, but in the long run, this is not a smart thing to do.
Katherina Nikzad-Terhune Ph.D.
Associate Professor, MSW Program Director, School of Social WorkNorthern Kentucky University
College of Health and Human Services
What skills stand out on Practitioner resumes?
Katherina Nikzad-Terhune Ph.D.: We look for social work applicants who strongly demonstrate their experience and their skill set. This involves highlighting experience with diverse populations and experience working in a variety of practice settings. For new graduates, this can come in the form of highlighting their practicum experiences. It is also important for individuals to emphasize their knowledge, understanding, and experience with relevant issues that take precedence in the world right now. This includes experience and training in diversity and inclusion efforts, experience providing telehealth services during the pandemic, and experience with trauma-informed care and working with trauma patients (to name a few). If applicants possess expertise or additional training with specific populations (e.g., older adults, domestic violence victims, refugees), they should demonstrate this expertise and highlight the corresponding skill sets they have developed as a result of working with these populations. We also encourage exhibiting areas of interventional expertise and training (e.g., training in cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, etc....).
What soft skills should all Practitioners possess?
Katherina Nikzad-Terhune Ph.D.: Regarding soft skills, we look for skills that are essential foundational skills within the profession. These include empathy, active listening, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, to name a few. These are essential for effective alliance-building with our clients and for making unbiased and ethical decisions. As social workers, we are often in the business of communication. Rarely do we work in isolation, as much of our work involves collaboration with multidisciplinary teams and individuals in other professional domains. As such, effective communication, organization, time management, and collaborative skills are necessary.
Dr. Dianna Cooper
Associate ProfessorCampbellsville University
Carver School of Social Work
What soft skills should all Practitioners possess?
Dr. Dianna Cooper: The "change theory" used in social work practice follows several steps, including engaging, assessing, planning, intervening, evaluating, terminating, and following up. Soft skills are most likely to occur in engagement, intervention, and termination. Social workers are trained to "start wherever the client is," understanding that clients can be individuals, families, groups, communities, or organizations. Social workers are trained to respect the client as the expert in their needs, honor self-determination, use a strengths-based approach, and respect difference while using inclusion. The training turns into soft skills such as being empathetic, warm, genuine, and respectful. Social workers also develop skills in knowing when to listen and when to nudge the client toward action. Social workers are trained to intervene and, when change is completed, to terminate. Helping clients know when to end services also requires soft skills of talking about hard topics, seeing a brighter future and setting goals, recognizing when change is happening, and saying goodbye respectfully.
What skills will help Practitioners earn the most?
Dr. Dianna Cooper: Individuals who complete a master's degree in social work (MSW) are likely to earn higher pay than individuals with a bachelor's degree (BSW). MSWs are also desirable in many settings, including hospitals and medical settings, schools, mental health counseling centers, police departments, probation offices, in-home therapeutic service agencies, and private practice. Most states now require social workers to be licensed. MSWs who want to bill insurances for direct service to clients must be licensed at the clinic level where they practice to credential with insurance companies.
Alejandra Acuna Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorCalifornia State University Northridge
Department of Social Work
What experience really stands out on Practitioner resumes?
Alejandra Acuna Ph.D.: Experience is valued in social work. Taking advantage of opportunities like internships and volunteer work is smart. Training and certification in an evidence-based program/practice (EBP), curricula, or intervention is a plus, although if there is a particular EBP used by a hiring agency, the agency usually pays for the time and cost of the training once a social worker is hired. Any additional skills relevant to the specific job- software skills, electronic recordkeeping, language proficiency - are worthy of highlighting in a resume. Grant writing skills also add value to resumes.
The reason most industries advertise with the statement, "will train the right person" is that we know (based on research conducted by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and Stanford Research Center) that interpersonal and intrapersonal communication skills (so-called "soft skills") make up 85% of job success and only 15% of job success comes from technical skills and knowledge. Interpersonal skills can probably be highlighted best in the cover letter and in the interview. Show up and let them see who you are - your warm, authentic, and empathic essence.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Practitioners?
Alejandra Acuna Ph.D.: The coronavirus epidemic completely changed the work environment for social workers. While some were considered essential workers and continued in-person services, most had to shift to virtual services and become proficient in various online platforms as well as understand and work within the legal and ethical parameters surrounding telehealth (that is, the provision of health/mental health services remotely employing telecommunications technology). Further, building trusting relationships and creating caring communities is what social workers do and are the foundation of providing quality services, so finding creative ways to remotely connect to clients - individuals, families, groups, and communities - has been paramount.
Social workers are trained to create trauma- and resilience-informed systems (e.g., an organizational culture, structure, and treatment framework built on understanding, recognizing, and responding to all kinds of trauma) and practices (e.g., safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness, and empowerment). Now more than ever, these skills are valuable since everyone has been impacted by the double pandemic of racial discrimination amid coronavirus disease. The opportunity in this crisis is that we are moving away from pre-contemplation ("not thinking about it") and contemplation ("thinking about it") to preparation ("planning to make change") and action ("taking steps to make change"). These are exciting steps forward based on the Transtheoretical Model of Change (stages of change). While managing these stages, we can anticipate the stages that come later, which are maintenance ("maintaining the change") and relapse ("falling back into former patterns of behavior").
It is evident that front-line workers, like social workers, are intensely impacted by consistently responding to clients and patients who are affected by trauma. Building resilience is critical at the individual, family, community, institutional, and professional levels. We all need it now. Social work is sustainable in that our efforts to care for others are balanced with caring for ourselves, where no one is neglected or left behind.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Practitioners to find work opportunities?
Dr. Kurt Miller: What is exciting about the profession of social work is that they can be found in all countries. They work in rural and urban settings. They advocate in public, private, and non-profit organizations. They engage all types of communities. They collaborate with many other professionals. Rather than considering a specific locale for job opportunities, it is crucial to consider how social workers respond to all social contexts. Social workers are needed everywhere.
How would you rate the starting salaries for Practitioners, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?
Sarah Christa Butts MSW: Social workers are required to have a high level of education. Usually, a Master's degree and starting salaries are often far too low. Still, social workers can increase their wages over time, and there are many opportunities and positions available. Increasing reimbursement and compensation for social workers and reducing student loan debt are advocacy priorities for NASW.
What are the best companies to work for a Practitioner?
Dr. April Jones: The feedback from business leaders is that they wish to see a balanced mix of new graduates' skills. An unexpected gift mentioned is the ability to use spreadsheets, such as Excel. Companies do not expect to train new employees to use spreadsheets, though it turned out that spreadsheets are widely used (at varying levels of complexity) at all levels in organizations. An assumption here is that if a graduate already has good spreadsheet skills, then the graduate should also have the ability to quickly pick up on other, more complex business IT skills required by the organization.
Businesses also need to know if their new employees can effectively interact with internal or external audiences. In this regard, excellent presentation skills are the minimum expectation from businesses. Presentation skills (both formal and informal) include the ability to read people, communicate, and convey information appropriately to the different types of audiences they may encounter - and these may sometimes include bored, skeptical, adversarial, or even hostile audiences.
Every organization also requires graduates to show that they are good team-players. In addition to that, it is a significant advantage if graduates can also demonstrate good leadership skills in the context of teamwork. This is because new employees with leadership potential are viewed as those who are willing to go the extra mile, able to function with minimum supervision, can roll with the punches to jump back into the fray, and trusted to welcome (instead of to avoid) new assignments or challenges. Leadership skills are also seen as closely aligned with the possession of a corporate entrepreneurial mindset. Such employees are more willing to challenge the status quo, come up with out-of-the-box ideas, and help lead transformation efforts to guide the organization in the future.
Benjamin Sher
DirectorNYU Silver School of Social Work
Office of Global and Lifelong Learning
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Practitioners?
Benjamin Sher: From my perspective as Director of NYU Silver's Office of Global and Lifelong Learning and former President of NASW-NYC, I would say absolutely. NASW National has pushed for professional social workers to be recognized as front-line workers. This does, unfortunately, differentiate PSW a bit from essential workers (doctors, nurses, allied health professionals). However, we have been and will continue to be a key part of the pandemic. There is more of a need for social workers as we see the emotional and social impacts of the virus on people. Professional social workers are the largest provider of mental health services in the country, and we are needed now more than ever.
The inequities in health care that the virus has exposed in our society has also made it essential for social workers to be a part of the solution to the social determinants of health and health disparities. Social Workers, trained in using a systems analysis and person-in-environment perspective, are key to grasping the pandemic problem as a public health issue, and we are very effective at organizing and addressing multiple biological-psychological-social-environmental-justice-spiritual needs for people and communities impacted by the virus. Many schools of social work have been outreached by their local governments to support the contract tracing efforts needed for widespread testing. This happened in both NY and NJ, and NASW-NYC advocated with NY State leadership to hire graduating students and MSW interns as contact tracers. An Op-Ed in City Limits was written on it.
Also - as that many community-based organizations have transitioned to telehealth and tele-mental health services and continue to remain so even as certain parts of the tri-state area are opening up, students who have had internship experience in this model will be very attractive graduating candidates this year.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Practitioners?
Mary Garrison: I do think that COVID-19 will have a lasting impact on graduates both psychologically and economically. Graduates this year are experiencing a year like no other - not only is their senior year and graduation experiences altered, but the opportunities ahead are very different from in the past. Due to COVID-19, how "we do business" is different and therefore challenges both agencies/non-profits as well as those looking for their first professional job. There is a great need for front line work to be accomplished, COVID-19, or not. Graduates need to be open, flexible, and take on the challenge of what opportunities come their way.