Quick answer:Marriage and family therapy programs are master’s-level, COAMFTE-accredited where accreditation applies, and can lead to state licensure after a period of supervised postgraduate hours and the national AMFTRB examination. Coursework goes online readily; the clinical practicum does not. Programs, the careers this degree opens, and what they pay are covered below.
What Makes MFT Distinct
The difference from counseling and clinical social work is not the setting or the client. It is the unit of treatment.
MFT training is systemic: the framework treats the relationship, the couple or the family as the thing being worked on, rather than treating an individual who happens to have a family. That is a genuinely different theoretical tradition, not a specialization bolted onto general counseling, and it is why the licensure track is separate.
In practice, licensed MFTs see individuals too, and the scope of practice overlaps substantially with licensed professional counselors and clinical social workers in most settings. The choice between the three is usually made on training model, on which license the employers in your area hire for, and on portability if you expect to move.
Before you request information anywhere, confirm COAMFTE accreditation and ask exactly how the program arranges in-person practicum placements for distance students. With that filter set, compare online marriage and family therapy programs enrolling now:
Colleges Offering This Degree
Every school listed is verified in federal IPEDS data both to award this degree and to offer programs that can be completed entirely by distance education at this level. Whether this exact degree is delivered fully online varies by school, so confirm the format before you apply.
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
10 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
152 of the 163 institutions awarding this degree report distance offerings (IPEDS 2024), and the didactic coursework genuinely works at a distance.
The practicum does not. You see clients in person, supervised, in a placement site the program approves - and how programs handle placements for distance students varies enormously. Some have established site networks; others expect you to find your own, which in a small market is a real obstacle.
Ask any program directly: how are practicum sites arranged for distance students, and what happens if no approved site is available near me? A vague answer to that question is informative.
The Licensure Path, and the Part People Underestimate
Marriage and family therapists are licensed state by state. The national framework has three components:
A master’s degree, from a program that meets the state’s educational requirements - COAMFTE accreditation is the recognized programmatic standard.
Supervised postgraduate clinical hours, accumulated after graduation while working under an approved supervisor.
The national MFT examination, administered through AMFTRB.
The second component is the one that surprises people. It is a period of full-time practice, at prelicensure pay, before the license exists. That is a large part of what the $44,650 10th percentile represents, and it is a real consideration in planning.
How many hours a state requires, what supervision qualifies, and how hours transfer if you move all differ meaningfully between states. Confirm with your state board for marriage and family therapy rather than relying on a national summary.
Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Before you shortlist programs, it also helps to be precise about where the work actually happens.
Where MFTs Actually Work
The 66,740 figure covers several settings that pay and operate very differently, which is most of the explanation for the wide wage spread.
Community mental health agencies are where most prelicensure hours are accumulated. Caseloads are high, pay is at the lower end, and the trade is supervision and experience for wage.
Group private practice is the most common destination after licensure. Income depends on caseload and payer mix rather than on a salary band.
Solo private practice is where the upper percentiles live, and it is a small business as much as a clinical practice - billing, insurance credentialing, marketing and premises are all yours to run.
Hospital and integrated care settings employ MFTs in behavioral health teams, typically on salary with more predictable hours.
Employee assistance programs and schools are smaller employers but offer structured, salaried work.
The path most people follow is agency work through licensure, then group practice, then solo practice if they want it. Each step changes the economics substantially, which is why a single median figure describes this occupation less well than most.
What These Careers Pay
The median is $66,940 with a projected 12.6 percent change through 2034 (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Marriage and Family Therapy at a Glance
Metric
Detail
Source
Median annual wage
$66,940
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Wage range
$44,650 (10th pct) - $123,730 (90th pct)
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Employment
66,740 marriage and family therapists
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Projected change (2024-34)
12.6%, about 7,700 openings per year
BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34
Typical credential
Master’s degree
Program catalogs
Accreditation
COAMFTE, the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education
COAMFTE
Examination
National MFT examination, through AMFTRB
AMFTRB
Institutions awarding
163, of which 152 report distance offerings
IPEDS Completions and IC, 2024
SOC codes covered
21-1013 marriage and family therapists; 21-1018 substance abuse, behavioral disorder and mental health counselors; 21-1021 child, family and school social workers; 21-1012 educational, guidance and career counselors
BLS OEWS, May 2025
The Behavioral Health Field, in Context
Role
Median
75th percentile
Employment
Projected change
Substance abuse and mental health counselors
$59,350
$76,530
491,930
16.8%
Child, family and school social workers
$59,550
$76,070
392,550
3.4%
Educational, guidance and career counselors
$64,330
$82,870
353,310
3.5%
Marriage and family therapists
$66,940
$93,840
66,740
12.6%
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025; growth figures BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
MFT is the smallest of these occupations by a wide margin and the second fastest growing. It also has the highest median and the highest 75th percentile of the four, which reflects how much of the work is done in private practice rather than in agencies.
Is It Worth It?
The case for is growth in a field with genuine unmet demand, a training model that is intellectually distinct, and a ceiling - $123,730 at the 90th percentile - that reflects real private practice earnings.
The case against is the runway. A master’s plus a supervised hours period at prelicensure pay is a multi-year investment before the license exists, and the occupation is small at 66,740 jobs, which means fewer employers in any given market than the counseling or social work alternatives.
Is college worth it covers the general tradeoff. Individual outcomes may vary.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do marriage and family therapists make?
The national median annual wage is $66,940 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $44,650 or less and the top 10 percent earn $123,730 or more, across employment of 66,740. The spread is wide because agency work and private practice pay very differently.
What degree do you need for MFT licensure?
A master's degree is the entry credential everywhere, followed by a period of supervised postgraduate clinical hours and the national MFT examination administered through AMFTRB. The recognized programmatic accreditor is COAMFTE. How many supervised hours a state requires, and what supervision qualifies, differ meaningfully between states.
Can you do an MFT program online?
Partly. 152 of the 163 institutions awarding this degree report distance offerings (IPEDS 2024), and the coursework transfers well. The clinical practicum does not - you see clients in person, under supervision, in a placement the program approves. Ask any online program how it arranges placements before enrolling.
MFT or clinical social work: which is better?
They are different training models with overlapping scope. MFT trains you in systemic therapy - the family or couple as the unit of treatment. Clinical social work trains you more broadly, including case management and systems navigation, and is more portable across settings. Median pay is comparable: $66,940 for MFTs against $59,550 for child, family and school social workers (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Is marriage and family therapy growing?
Yes, strongly. BLS projects a 12.6 percent change from 2024 to 2034, with about 7,700 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). The adjacent counseling occupation is projected at 16.8 percent, so the whole behavioral health field is expanding.
How long does MFT licensure take after the degree?
The master's is typically two to three years, and the supervised hours period afterward commonly adds a further one to two years of full-time practice. The exact hour requirement and the timeline are set by each state board, so confirm with yours before planning around any number.
What is the 10th percentile telling you?
That the early years are lean. A $44,650 10th percentile against a $123,730 90th percentile is one of the widest spreads on this site, and it largely reflects the gap between prelicensure agency work and established practice. Individual outcomes may vary.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - Marriage and Family Therapists (SOC 21-1013), Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors (SOC 21-1018), Child, Family, and School Social Workers (SOC 21-1021), Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors (SOC 21-1012)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-34
U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Completions and Institutional Characteristics, 2024 - CIP 51.1505 and 51.1511
Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE)
Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB)
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
