How To Become A Residential Case Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a residential case manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Samuel Sanabria Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a residential case manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.89 an hour? That's $39,297 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 52,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

What's a day at work look like for a residential case manager?

Samuel Sanabria Ph.D.

Professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Rollins College

I suspect that many graduates will be balancing working from home, providing telehealth mental health counseling services, and in an office, providing face-to-face counseling. The workday will be more flexible, extending to evening hours. I also believe that online support groups will increase. Groups are a great way to provide services to more people while offering a safe space to connect with others with shared experiences.

ScoreResidential Case ManagerUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,297

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.9

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.14%

Asian 6.16%

Black or African American 11.38%

Hispanic or Latino 15.91%

Unknown 5.16%

White 59.25%

Gender

female 73.63%

male 26.37%

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 a residential case manager

Explore residential case manager education requirements

Most common residential case manager degrees

Bachelor's

66.8 %

Master's

15.3 %

Associate

13.1 %

Start to develop specific residential case manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	13.78%
Crisis Intervention	8.35%
Mental Health	8.25%
Developmental Disabilities	6.03%
Behavioral Issues	5.74%

Complete relevant residential case manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New residential 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 a residential case manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real residential case manager resumes.

Research residential case manager duties and responsibilities

Manage a residential facility for adolescents with severe autism and psychiatric conditions.
Perform concurrent review to assure appropriateness of admission, inpatient/acute care, rehabilitation/SNF status, and discharge using establish InterQual guidelines.
Provide case management through treatment planning, teaching, and assisting with ADL's and IADL's.
Assist clients to live responsibly in the community by providing budgeting support, coaching to locate employment and ADL's.

Prepare your residential case manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your residential 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 a residential 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 residential case manager resume templates

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