Indiana·Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations·SOC 29-2053

Best Psychiatric Technician programs in Indiana, ranked by enrollment

Care for individuals with mental or emotional conditions or disabilities, following the instructions of physicians or other health practitioners. Monitor patients' physical and emotional well-being and report to medical staff.

2 schools in Indiana run programs that feed this job, graduating 494 people a year. The job pays a median of $40,910 in Indiana across about 6,790 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledMental Health AssociateMHW (Mental Health Worker)Psychiatric Technician (PT)Mental Health Technician (MHT)CounselorMilieu TherapistPsychology AssociatePsychiatric Assistant
Graduates / yr
494
in Indiana
Median pay · Indiana
$40,910
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
6,790
people employed
Schools
2
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
38%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Indiana that lead to this job

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

1 programs in Indiana that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Indiana (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 Indiana page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 51.1502In Indiana
494
100.0%
2$37,335$22,861

Top 2 schools in Indiana

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 2 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Ivy Tech Community College
Indianapolis, IN Public · 1 feeder programs
489Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician$29,95440%
2Purdue University Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, IN Public · 1 feeder programs
5Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician$34,60336%84%

All 2 schools in Indiana

Every school in Indiana 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 Indiana that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Ivy Tech Community CollegeIndianapolisPublic4891
Purdue University Fort WayneFort WaynePublic51

What psychiatric technicians earn in Indiana

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

Median annual in Indiana
$40,910
Mean annual
$42,750
Jobs in state
6,790
What the range looks like
10th pct$36,010Median$40,91090th pct$50,190
Versus the national median
-9.4%

U.S. median $45,130. Indiana pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
2.10×

Concentrated here: Indiana employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Indiana

Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN
$44,710median
2,440 jobs
Elkhart-Goshen, IN
$46,560median
130 jobs
Fort Wayne, IN
$39,010median
430 jobs
South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI
$40,910median
530 jobs
Columbus, IN
$40,990median
160 jobs
Bloomington, IN
$40,320median
240 jobs
Evansville, IN
$38,170median
330 jobs
Terre Haute, IN
$37,090median
110 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+20.0%
Much faster than average
Openings per year
15,900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
28,900
144,500 → 173,300
Typical entry education
Postsecondary nondegree award
Plus short-term on-the-job training

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 Psychiatric Technicians page.

How to become a Psychiatric Technician

Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0
Typical entry education
Postsecondary nondegree award
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years
On-the-job training
Short-term on-the-job training

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Top skills

MonitoringActive ListeningSpeakingReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingWriting

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Indiana

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Psychiatric Technicians1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 51.1502Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician

Common questions

Answers for people weighing psychiatric technicians programs in Indiana.

What degree do you need to become a Psychiatric Technician?+

Postsecondary nondegree award is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician, which awarded 494 degrees in Indiana in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Psychiatric Technician?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions. Together they graduate about 494 people a year in Indiana.

How much do psychiatric technicians earn in Indiana?+

The median is $40,910 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 9.4% below the U.S. median of $45,130. 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 psychiatric technicians growing?+

BLS projects a +20.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 15,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

2 institutions in Indiana reported graduates from at least one of the 1 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 psychiatric technicians work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Mental Health Associate, MHW (Mental Health Worker), Psychiatric Technician (PT), Mental Health Technician (MHT) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 29-2053.

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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