Social Workers Average Salary in United States
$67,651 average · $68,010 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 United States, 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 United States?
The average social workers salary in United States is $67,651 per year, with a median of $68,010. That works out to about $32.52 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 4,253,280 social workers jobs in United States.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $68,010. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $57,821; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $75,761 — a 31% 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 United States 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 United States
In United States, social workers report a median of $68,010 and an average of $67,651 (about $32.52/hour) across roughly 4,253,280 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $57,821 at the 10th percentile to $75,761 at the 90th.
National figures average across high-cost coastal metros and lower-cost inland markets, so individual state pages on Wage Atlas are usually the better reference for a specific offer.
Income reality check
The median salary for Social Workers in United States of $68,010 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)