Best degree programs for Psychiatric Technicians, ranked by enrollment
1 college programs and 77 schools train Psychiatric Technicians. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $45,130 median wage, 156,960 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 77 schools train psychiatric technicians, graduating 2,776 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician. The job pays a median of $45,130 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About psychiatric technicians
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. May participate in rehabilitation and treatment programs, help with personal hygiene, and administer oral or injectable medications.
A psychiatric technician is a mental health professional who works with psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses. They provide hands-on direct care to developmentally or emotionally disabled people, as well as those diagnosed with mental illnesses such as psychosis; or a brain disease such as dementia. Also they secure patients' compliance with personal hygiene routine, their medicines consumption, daily meal, and other everyday trivial matters, which might deviate in mental cases and require external help and sometimes even limited use of force. They are employed in public and private hospitals and long-term care facilities, and, in certain countries, also serve on the ambulance daily and nightwatches to provide assistance in case of handling potential mental patients, who conduct disorderly in public, when police interference is deemed inappropriate or unnecessary, or when detainees may not necessarily conduct themselves disorderly but still present obvious medical interest.
Read more on Wikipedia →Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
1 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 51.1502 | 2,776 | 100.0% | 77 | $37,335 | $22,861 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What psychiatric technicians earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizonamoderate | $45,640 | 8,160 | 2.49× | 3 | 687 |
| Indianalimited | $40,910 | 6,790 | 2.10× | 2 | 494 |
| California | $49,140 | 14,100 | 0.77× | 12 | 342 |
| Texas | $39,970 | 11,350 | 0.80× | 11 | 220 |
| Wisconsin | $40,290 | 4,430 | 1.49× | 11 | 216 |
| New Yorklimited | $58,080 | 2,040 | 0.21× | 2 | 161 |
| Alabamalimited | $36,680 | 3,290 | 1.54× | 1 | 137 |
| Ohio | $39,140 | 3,950 | 0.70× | 6 | 111 |
| Massachusettsmoderate | $52,000 | 5,340 | 1.45× | 3 | 75 |
| Maryland | $45,520 | 680 | 0.24× | 5 | 71 |
| Mainelimited | $45,320 | 620 | 0.95× | 2 | 59 |
| Nevadalimited | $46,450 | 2,060 | 1.31× | 1 | 36 |
| Illinoismoderate | $46,200 | 9,410 | 1.53× | 3 | 23 |
| Washingtonlimited | $52,470 | 1,920 | 0.54× | 2 | 22 |
| Floridalimited | $43,570 | 12,710 | 1.27× | 2 | 21 |
| Pennsylvanialimited | $43,930 | 10,340 | 1.69× | 2 | 21 |
| West Virginialimited | $34,100 | 770 | 1.08× | 1 | 19 |
| Alaskalimited | $51,650 | 340 | 1.03× | 1 | 15 |
| Connecticutlimited | $55,500 | 1,040 | 0.61× | 1 | 13 |
| Minnesotalimited | $40,300 | 3,550 | 1.19× | 2 | 13 |
| Michiganlimited | $43,140 | 4,850 | 1.09× | 1 | 9 |
| Missourilimited | $45,840 | 4,450 | 1.50× | 1 | 7 |
| North Carolinalimited | $40,630 | 5,950 | 1.19× | 1 | 2 |
| Virginialimited | $48,320 | 3,950 | 0.95× | 1 | 2 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Provide nursing, psychiatric, or personal care to patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.
- Encourage patients to develop work skills and to participate in social, recreational, or other therapeutic activities that enhance interpersonal skills or develop social relationships.
- Restrain violent, potentially violent, or suicidal patients by verbal or physical means as required.
- Lead prescribed individual or group therapy sessions as part of specific therapeutic procedures.
- Monitor patients' physical and emotional well-being and report unusual behavior or physical ailments to medical staff.
- Take and record measures of patients' physical condition, using devices such as thermometers or blood pressure gauges.
- Observe and influence patients' behavior, communicating and interacting with them and teaching, counseling, or befriending them.
- Aid patients in performing tasks, such as bathing or keeping beds, clothing, or living areas clean.
Skills
- Monitoring4.0
- Active Listening4.0
- Speaking3.9
- Reading Comprehension3.8
- Critical Thinking3.6
- Writing3.3
- Active Learning3.1
- Learning Strategies3.0
Knowledge areas
- Psychology4.2
- Therapy and Counseling4.1
- English Language4.1
- Customer and Personal Service4.0
- Medicine and Dentistry3.7
- Education and Training3.5
Abilities
- Problem Sensitivity4.0
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Oral Expression4.0
- Deductive Reasoning3.8
- Inductive Reasoning3.6
- Written Comprehension3.6
Core activities
- Assisting and Caring for Others4.9
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.6
- Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others4.5
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events4.5
- Getting Information4.4
- Documenting/Recording Information4.2
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
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.
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
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
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 2,776 degrees 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 2,776 people a year.
How much do psychiatric technicians earn?+
The median is $45,130 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $35,090 at the 10th percentile to $60,750 at the 90th. 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?+
77 institutions 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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, 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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