Arizona·Community and Social Service Occupations·SOC 21-1013

Best Marriage programs in Arizona, ranked by enrollment

Diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders, whether cognitive, affective, or behavioral, within the context of marriage and family systems.

17 schools in Arizona run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,782 people a year. The job pays a median of $65,290 in Arizona across about jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledClinical TherapistOutpatient TherapistMarriage and Family Therapist (MFT)Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT)CounselorTherapistPlay TherapistGroup Counselor
Graduates / yr
1,782
in Arizona
Median pay · Arizona
$65,290
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
people employed
Schools
17
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
25%
across those schools
Median net price
$15,785
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Arizona that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

2 programs in Arizona that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Arizona (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Arizona page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 44.0701In Arizona
1,707
95.8%
16$37,264$26,140
2
CIP 51.1505In Arizona
75
4.2%
4$37,335$22,861

Top 17 schools in Arizona

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 17 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, AZ Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
742Social Work$39,01743%$21,53579%
2Arizona State University Campus Immersion
Tempe, AZ Public · 2 feeder programs
308Social Work$39,84268%90%
3Arizona State University Digital Immersion
Scottsdale, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
283Social Work0%67%
4Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
193Social Work$38,24761%90%
5University of Phoenix - Arizona
Phoenix, AZ Private for-profit · 2 feeder programs
97Social Work21%$15,478
6American InterContinental University System
Chandler, AZ Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
45Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling9%$15,785
7Mesa Community College
Mesa, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
31Social Work16%
8Tohono O'odham Community College
Sells, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
28Social Work34%
9Phoenix College
Phoenix, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
12Social Work14%
10Glendale Community College
Glendale, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
11Social Work16%
11Estrella Mountain Community College
Avondale, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
10Social Work32%
12Paradise Valley Community College
Phoenix, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
7Social Work19%
13Dine College
Tsaile, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
6Social Work13%
14Chandler - Gilbert Community College
Chandler, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
5Social Work30%
15Rio Salado College
Tempe, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
2Social Work9%
16GateWay Community College
Phoenix, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Social Work29%
17South Mountain Community College
Phoenix, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Social Work16%

All 17 schools in Arizona

Every school in Arizona with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Arizona that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Grand Canyon UniversityPhoenixPrivate not-for-profit7422
Arizona State University Campus ImmersionTempePublic3082
Arizona State University Digital ImmersionScottsdalePublic2831
Northern Arizona UniversityFlagstaffPublic1931
University of Phoenix - ArizonaPhoenixPrivate for-profit972
American InterContinental University SystemChandlerPrivate for-profit451
Mesa Community CollegeMesaPublic311
Tohono O'odham Community CollegeSellsPublic281
Phoenix CollegePhoenixPublic121
Glendale Community CollegeGlendalePublic111
Estrella Mountain Community CollegeAvondalePublic101
Paradise Valley Community CollegePhoenixPublic71
Dine CollegeTsailePublic61
Chandler - Gilbert Community CollegeChandlerPublic51
Rio Salado CollegeTempePublic21

What marriage and family therapists earn in Arizona

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Arizona
$65,290
Mean annual
$74,150
Jobs in state
What the range looks like
10th pct$50,270Median$65,29090th pct$100,720
Versus the national median
-2.5%

U.S. median $66,940. Arizona pays below the national figure.

Metro areas in Arizona

Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
$61,850median
Tucson, AZ
$74,360median
40 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+12.6%
Much faster than average
Openings per year
7,700
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
9,800
77,800 → 87,700
Typical entry education
Master's degree
Plus internship/residency

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Marriage and Family Therapists page.

How to become a Marriage

Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above
Typical entry education
Master's degree
On-the-job training
Internship/residency

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Top skills

Active ListeningSpeakingReading ComprehensionWritingCritical ThinkingActive Learning

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Arizona

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 5 majors mapped to Marriage and Family Therapists4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 44.0701Social Work
  • 51.1505Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling
  • 51.1506Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling
  • 51.1510Infant/Toddler Mental Health Services(no graduates reported)
  • 51.1511Medical Family Therapy/Therapist

Common questions

Answers for people weighing marriage and family therapists programs in Arizona.

What degree do you need to become a Marriage?+

Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Social Work, which awarded 1,707 degrees in Arizona in 2024-25, 95.8% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Marriage?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Social Work, Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions. Together they graduate about 1,782 people a year in Arizona.

How much do marriage and family therapists earn in Arizona?+

The median is $65,290 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.5% below the U.S. median of $66,940. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for marriage and family therapists growing?+

BLS projects a +12.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 7,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Arizona?+

17 institutions in Arizona reported graduates from at least one of the 2 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do marriage and family therapists work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Clinical Therapist, Outpatient Therapist, Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT), Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 21-1013.

Marriage and Family Therapists in other statesCaliforniaNew YorkTexasMinnesotaIllinoisOhioMichiganKentucky

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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