Field Psychology: Salaries & Job Prospects

The field of psychology is surprisingly pertinent in today's fast-paced world. The fact is, understanding how the brain works and why humans behave the way they do can directly benefit anyone in the fields of marketing/advertising, educating, business, sales, the natural sciences and more. It is applicable to much of what goes on around us and most psychologists and neuroscientists are deliberately commissioned to help explain human behavior, often for the purposes of helping people improve their lives.

There are almost as wide a variety of psychologists as there are doctors. For example, you could be a health psychologist, counselor, developmental psychologist, clinical psychologist, forensic psychologist or other. The salaries for these various types of psychologists are just as varied, not only by field, but also by location. You can't expect a school counselor at a poor rural school to earn anywhere close to what a clinical psychologist with an established practice can make in a wealthy urban district.

As a point of clarification, clinical psychologists and psychiatrists are similar, but psychiatrists have medical degrees and usually focus on mental health issues by prescribing medications. Psychologists usually use psychotherapy and psychological evaluation methods to help individuals work through their problems. They also can deal with mentally ill patients, but if the issue is physiological, they often work with a psychiatrist or social worker to collaborate on effective treatment plans.

The average salary of a psychologist is somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000 per year. Depending on location, level of education, area of expertise and years of experience, a psychologist's salary might vary from less than $35,000 to well into the six figures. Other factors include type of employment such as by the state, a private entity or self-employment. Usually when anyone is working for the state, they will make less compared to what they would earn in a similar type of position in the private sector.

Recent career reports suggest that the biggest specialty area for psychologists is clinical psychology. Approximately 37% of all working psychologists are clinicians, and about 35% of all psychologists are self-employed. If you are interested in working at an institution of higher learning, colleges and universities are an excellent place to get a job, because you can teach psychology and do further research in your area of specialty, or you can jump on board as a counselor or administrator.

If you are interested in pursuing psychology, you will be happy to hear that job growth in the field of psychology is expected to be higher-than-average in the next few years. The main drawback to a career in psychology is that most people are required to have a master's or doctorate before they can qualify for a position, which takes an average of 5-7 years to obtain. So even though psychology is a popular major for undergraduates, most won't be able to do much related to psychology until they have gotten a postgraduate degree. Exceptions include rehabilitation clinics and high school psychology teaching positions, as long as you have state education certification.

The outlook is fairly rosy for would-be psychologists. You can expect a decent-to-excellent salary depending on the type of position you're interested in and how much experience you aquire. The field of psychology is likely to keep growing, not least because of the increased emphasis on health care, which happens to include mental health. 

Drawing upon our more than 30-year history of granting degrees in professional psychology, Argosy University has developed a curriculum that focuses on interpersonal skills and practical experience alongside academic learning. Because getting a degree is one thing. Succeeding, quite another.