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

Best Marriage programs in Montana, ranked by enrollment

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

6 schools in Montana run programs that feed this job, graduating 211 people a year. The job pays a median of $46,960 in Montana across about 100 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledClinical TherapistOutpatient TherapistMarriage and Family Therapist (MFT)Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT)CounselorTherapistPlay TherapistGroup Counselor
Graduates / yr
211
in Montana
Median pay · Montana
$46,960
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
100
people employed
Schools
6
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
37%
across those schools
Median net price
$21,440
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Montana that lead to this job

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

1 programs in Montana that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Montana (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 Montana 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 Montana
211
100.0%
6$37,264$26,140

Top 6 schools in Montana

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 6 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1The University of Montana
Missoula, MT Public · 1 feeder programs
161Social Work$33,72648%96%
2Carroll College
Helena, MT Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
29Social Work69%$21,44071%
3Fort Peck Community College
Poplar, MT Public · 1 feeder programs
9Social Work17%
4Blackfeet Community College
Browning, MT Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
6Social Work62%$6,463
5Salish Kootenai College
Pablo, MT Public · 1 feeder programs
5Social Work28%
6Chief Dull Knife College
Lame Deer, MT Public · 1 feeder programs
1Social Work0%

All 6 schools in Montana

Every school in Montana 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 Montana that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
The University of MontanaMissoulaPublic1611
Carroll CollegeHelenaPrivate not-for-profit291
Fort Peck Community CollegePoplarPublic91
Blackfeet Community CollegeBrowningPrivate not-for-profit61
Salish Kootenai CollegePabloPublic51
Chief Dull Knife CollegeLame DeerPublic11

What marriage and family therapists earn in Montana

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

Median annual in Montana
$46,960
Mean annual
$54,580
Jobs in state
100
What the range looks like
10th pct$32,170Median$46,96090th pct$75,310
Versus the national median
-29.8%

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

Job concentration
0.44×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these 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 Montana

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 Montana.

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 211 degrees in Montana in 2024-25, 100.0% 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 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Social Work. Together they graduate about 211 people a year in Montana.

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

The median is $46,960 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 29.8% 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 Montana?+

6 institutions in Montana 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 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
Programs in MontanaSocial Work

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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