West Virginia·Community and Social Service Occupations·SOC 21-1021

Best Child programs in West Virginia, ranked by enrollment

Provide social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families and to maximize the family well-being and the academic functioning of children.

8 schools in West Virginia run programs that feed this job, graduating 346 people a year. The job pays a median of $52,220 in West Virginia across about 2,380 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledCase ManagerSchool Social WorkerFamily Service WorkerFamily Protection SpecialistCaseworkerCase WorkerGroup WorkerSocial Worker
Graduates / yr
346
in West Virginia
Median pay · West Virginia
$52,220
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
2,380
people employed
Schools
8
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
48%
across those schools
Median net price
$15,783
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in West Virginia that lead to this job

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

2 programs in West Virginia that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in West Virginia (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 West Virginia page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1344
99.4%
8$37,264$26,140
22
0.6%
1$34,454$21,878

Top 8 schools in West Virginia

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 8 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV Public · 2 feeder programs
134Social Work$34,34465%89%
2Concord University
Athens, WV Public · 1 feeder programs
110Social Work$35,93039%93%
3Marshall University
Huntington, WV Public · 1 feeder programs
67Social Work$33,34451%96%
4West Virginia State University
Institute, WV Public · 1 feeder programs
13Social Work$30,06039%96%
5Shepherd University
Shepherdstown, WV Public · 1 feeder programs
9Social Work$32,96551%97%
6Bethany College
Bethany, WV Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
6Social Work47%$15,78359%
7West Liberty University
West Liberty, WV Public · 1 feeder programs
6Social Work60%97%
8West Virginia Northern Community College
Wheeling, WV Public · 1 feeder programs
1Social Work33%

All 8 schools in West Virginia

Every school in West Virginia 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 West Virginia that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
West Virginia UniversityMorgantownPublic1342
Concord UniversityAthensPublic1101
Marshall UniversityHuntingtonPublic671
West Virginia State UniversityInstitutePublic131
Shepherd UniversityShepherdstownPublic91
Bethany CollegeBethanyPrivate not-for-profit61
West Liberty UniversityWest LibertyPublic61
West Virginia Northern Community CollegeWheelingPublic11

What child, family, and school social workers earn in West Virginia

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

Median annual in West Virginia
$52,220
Mean annual
$52,610
Jobs in state
2,380
What the range looks like
10th pct$38,410Median$52,22090th pct$66,980
Versus the national median
-12.3%

U.S. median $59,550. West Virginia pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.34×

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

Metro areas in West Virginia

Charleston, WV
$53,070median
600 jobs
Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH
$52,220median
620 jobs
Parkersburg-Vienna, WV
$52,220median
90 jobs
Beckley, WV
$52,220median
100 jobs
Wheeling, WV-OH
$50,450median
120 jobs
Morgantown, WV
$47,740median
140 jobs
Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH
$47,980median
190 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+3.4%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
35,100
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
13,400
399,900 → 413,300
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

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 Child, Family, and School Social Workers page.

How to become a Child

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Active ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingReading ComprehensionMonitoringWriting

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in West Virginia

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 8 majors mapped to Child, Family, and School Social Workers6 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 42.2703Developmental and Child Psychology
  • 42.2710Developmental and Adolescent Psychology(no graduates reported)
  • 43.0110Juvenile Corrections
  • 44.0701Social Work
  • 44.0702Youth Services/Administration
  • 44.0703Forensic Social Work
  • 44.0799Social Work, Other
  • 51.1510Infant/Toddler Mental Health Services(no graduates reported)

Common questions

Answers for people weighing child, family, and school social workers programs in West Virginia.

What degree do you need to become a Child?+

Bachelor'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 344 degrees in West Virginia in 2024-25, 99.4% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Child?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Social Work, Research and Experimental Psychology. Together they graduate about 346 people a year in West Virginia.

How much do child, family, and school social workers earn in West Virginia?+

The median is $52,220 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 12.3% below the U.S. median of $59,550. 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 child, family, and school social workers growing?+

BLS projects a +3.4% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 35,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in West Virginia?+

8 institutions in West Virginia 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 child, family, and school social workers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Case Manager, School Social Worker, Family Service Worker, Family Protection Specialist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 21-1021.

Child, Family, and School Social Workers in other statesNew YorkCaliforniaTexasMinnesotaIllinoisMichiganOhioKentucky

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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