Social Workers Average Salary in North Carolina
$60,885 average · $60,885 median · BLS OEWS 2025
SOC Code: 21-1020What is this?
Combined BLS estimate across: Child, Family, and School Social Workers, Healthcare Social Workers, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
This page shows employer-reported wages for Social Workers in North Carolina, drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey — median and mean pay, the full percentile distribution, and the industries that employ this occupation locally. Employer type sets the ceiling: hospital systems and government agencies pay meaningfully more than nonprofits for the same credentials. Clinical licensure (LCSW, LPC) is the main individual lever, gating both higher-paid clinical roles and independent practice. States with stronger public funding and licensure requirements show visibly higher wages in this data.
How much do Social Workers make in North Carolina?
The average social workers salary in North Carolina is $60,885 per year. That works out to about $29.27 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 21,820 social workers jobs in North Carolina.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $60,885. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $60,885; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $60,885 — a 0% spread from bottom to top. Figures are employer-reported wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — not self-reported survey averages — so they are the right baseline for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
How Community and Social Service Careers Are Structured
Community and social service work — counseling, social work, religious and community programs — is driven by public and nonprofit funding, which caps the wage distribution well below what the required education would earn elsewhere. The data here reflects a field people enter for reasons beyond pay, but the variation within it still matters and is worth understanding.
The wage tables and percentile chart on this page show how social workers pay is distributed in North Carolina specifically — and because state-level wages for the same occupation routinely differ by 30% or more, the local figures here are the ones that matter for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
What Moves Pay in This Field
Employer type sets the ceiling: hospital systems and government agencies pay meaningfully more than nonprofits for the same credentials. Clinical licensure (LCSW, LPC) is the main individual lever, gating both higher-paid clinical roles and independent practice. States with stronger public funding and licensure requirements show visibly higher wages in this data.
Bachelor-level entry is common, but the field's pay progression is unusually credential-bound: the master's degree plus clinical licensure is effectively the price of admission to the top half of this distribution. Workers should weigh that investment against the hard funding ceiling — and note that experience in this field transfers well into HR, healthcare administration, and public-sector management.
New to reading wage distributions? Our guide to salary percentiles explains how to place yourself on the chart above, and the negotiation playbook shows how to use these numbers in an actual conversation.
What Do Social Workers Do?
Social Workers positions belong to the community and social service field. Community and social service work — counseling, social work, religious and community programs — is driven by public and nonprofit funding, which caps the wage distribution well below what the required education would earn elsewhere. The data here reflects a field people enter for reasons beyond pay, but the variation within it still matters and is worth understanding.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code: 21-1020
Social Workers pay in North Carolina
In North Carolina, social workers report a median of $60,885 (about $29.27/hour) across roughly 21,820 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $60,885 at the 10th percentile to $60,885 at the 90th.
Compared with the national distribution, local industry mix and cost of living are the main reasons North Carolina wages for this occupation sit where they do — toggle Regional Price Parity on this page to see purchasing-power-adjusted pay.
What your paycheck is really worth in North Carolina
Prices in North Carolina run 6% below the national average (RPP 94.3). So a nominal salary of $60,885 has the buying power of about $64,547 in national terms.
North Carolina vs. United States for Social Workers
The median social workers salary in North Carolina is $60,885, which is -10.5% below the national median of $68,010 (mean pay is -10.0% below the U.S. mean of $67,651). Among 51 states and D.C. with OEWS data, North Carolina ranks #27 by median wage for this occupation. North Carolina accounts for about 0.5% of U.S. social workers employment in the latest OEWS release.
See every state ranked for this occupation on the best-paying states page, or compare purchasing power on real wages.
Income reality check
The median salary for Social Workers in North Carolina of $60,885 falls in the Middle class band of this framework - roughly ~10% of the U.S. population and ~10% of the global population sit in this band.
Illustrative relative standing for education only - this ladder is a simplified framework, not an official Census, BLS, or World Bank statistical series. Salary figures on Wage Atlas come from official BLS OEWS data.
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Top Industries for Social Workers
| $80,235 | $77,660 | $39 | 156,360 | |
| $72,642 | $67,833 | $35 | 954,650 | |
| $72,165 | $67,670 | $35 | 154,630 | |
| $64,440 | $59,260 | $31 | 425,640 | |
| $55,956 | $51,550 | $27 | 306,740 |
Social Workers in Other States
Compare salaries for this occupation across different states:
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Viewing: Social Workers (SOC: 21-1020)