Most common destination first. Every card carries the national median annual wage, projected employment change and openings over 2024–2034, and the typical education people already in the job hold.
What Can You Do With a Psychology Degree?
Below are 15 occupations that psychology graduates commonly move into, most common first. Social and Human Service Assistant leads at $45,930 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025); across the whole list the middle occupation pays $66,940 and 9 of 15 typically need a graduate degree. A major is a body of study, not a job assignment, so treat every entry as a common destination rather than a promise.
What the degree actually involves: Research methods and statistics first, then cognition, development, and clinical topics.
Psychology is the clearest case of a major whose headline destinations sit behind a second degree. Undergraduates most often start in the counselling-adjacent, human-services and research-support roles below; the licensed clinical and school psychology routes need graduate study, and the list marks which ones.
- Common destinations
- 15
- Median pay range
- $45,930–$193,950
- Projected to grow
- 14 of 15
- Need a graduate degree
- 9 of 15
5 with a full profile page
BLS OEWS, May 2025
BLS EP, 2024–2034
BLS EP typical entry, 2024–2034
How this list was built
- The destinations are the occupations psychology graduates commonly move into. They are ordered by how common the destination is, not by what it pays, so the ordinary outcomes sit at the top where they belong rather than being buried under the flattering ones.
- Every destination is matched to a real occupation in the 923-occupation NueCareer career bank. A destination that does not resolve to a bank occupation is dropped rather than shown without data.
- All pay, growth, openings and education figures come from that bank: BLS OEWS May 2025 for wages, BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 for projected change, annual openings and the typical education needed for entry, and O*NET 30.3 Database for what the work involves. Nothing is estimated and no figure here is generated by an AI model.
- Destinations whose BLS typical entry education is a master’s or a doctoral or professional degree are marked Graduate study on the list. That flag is read from the federal data, not asserted by us.
- What this list is not: a ranking of which destination you should pick, a statement of how many graduates reach each one, or a promise that the degree entitles you to any of them. Read the full methodology.
15 careers a psychology degree commonly leads to
Community and Social Service
- Median pay
- $45,930
- Growth
- +6.4%
- Openings / yr
- 50,600
- Education
- High school
Assist other social and human service providers in providing client services in a wide variety of fields, such as psychology, rehabilitation, or social work, including support for families.
2. Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor
Community and Social Service
- Median pay
- $60,320
- Growth
- +10.4%
- Openings / yr
- 104,400
- Education
- N/A
Counsel and advise individuals with alcohol, tobacco, drug, or other problems, such as gambling and eating disorders.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
Business and Financial Operations
- Median pay
- $75,940
- Growth
- +6.2%
- Openings / yr
- 81,800
- Education
- Bachelor's
Recruit, screen, interview, or place individuals within an organization.
Business and Financial Operations
- Median pay
- $78,760
- Growth
- +6.7%
- Openings / yr
- 87,200
- Education
- Bachelor's
Research conditions in local, regional, national, or online markets.
Community and Social Service
Graduate study- Median pay
- $64,330
- Growth
- +3.5%
- Openings / yr
- 31,000
- Education
- Master's
Advise and assist students and provide educational and vocational guidance services.
6. Mental Health Counselor
Community and Social Service
- Median pay
- $60,320
- Growth
- +10.4%
- Openings / yr
- 104,400
- Education
- N/A
Counsel and advise individuals and groups to promote optimum mental and emotional health, with an emphasis on prevention.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
7. Rehabilitation Counselor
Community and Social Service
Graduate study- Median pay
- $46,850
- Growth
- +1.4%
- Openings / yr
- 10,000
- Education
- Master's
Counsel individuals to maximize the independence and employability of persons coping with personal, social, and vocational difficulties that result from birth defects, illness, disease, accidents, aging, or the stress…
Profile coming in the next tranche.
8. Probation Officer and Correctional Treatment Specialist
Community and Social Service
- Median pay
- $66,270
- Growth
- +2.6%
- Openings / yr
- 7,900
- Education
- Bachelor's
Provide social services to assist in rehabilitation of law offenders in custody or on probation or parole.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
Community and Social Service
Graduate study- Median pay
- $60,280
- Growth
- +9.7%
- Openings / yr
- 13,500
- Education
- Master's
Assess and treat individuals with mental, emotional, or substance abuse problems, including abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and/or other drugs.
10. Marriage and Family Therapist
Community and Social Service
Graduate study- Median pay
- $66,940
- Growth
- +12.6%
- Openings / yr
- 7,700
- Education
- Master's
Diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders, whether cognitive, affective, or behavioral, within the context of marriage and family systems.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
11. School Psychologist
Life, Physical, and Social Science
Graduate study- Median pay
- $95,990
- Growth
- +0.7%
- Openings / yr
- 3,800
- Education
- Master's
Diagnose and implement individual or schoolwide interventions or strategies to address educational, behavioral, or developmental issues that adversely impact educational functioning in a school.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
12. Clinical Psychologist
Life, Physical, and Social Science
Graduate study- Median pay
- $100,580
- Growth
- +11.2%
- Openings / yr
- 4,800
- Education
- Doctorate
Assess, diagnose, and treat mental and emotional disorders of individuals through observation, interview, and psychological tests.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
13. Industrial-Organizational Psychologist
Life, Physical, and Social Science
Graduate study- Median pay
- $193,950
- Growth
- +6.3%
- Openings / yr
- 400
- Education
- Master's
Apply principles of psychology to human resources, administration, management, sales, and marketing problems.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
14. Survey Researcher
Life, Physical, and Social Science
Graduate study- Median pay
- $69,460
- Growth
- -5.2%
- Openings / yr
- 700
- Education
- Master's
Plan, develop, or conduct surveys.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
15. Psychology Teacher, Postsecondary
Educational Instruction and Library
Graduate study- Median pay
- $80,340
- Growth
- +3.6%
- Openings / yr
- 4,000
- Education
- Doctorate
Teach courses in psychology, such as child, clinical, and developmental psychology, and psychological counseling.
Profile coming in the next tranche.
Does a psychology degree decide your career?
For most people, no. Federal survey data has consistently found that only a minority of US graduates work in a job closely related to their degree field, and that share falls further with each year after graduation. The exceptions are the fields where a licence sits at the end of the degree, and they are exceptions precisely because the route is fixed.
The practical reading of the list above is this: 6 of the 15 destinations are typically entered with a bachelor's degree or less, and 9 typically need a master's or a doctoral or professional degree (BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034). If the destination you want is in the second group, the extra years are part of the decision from day one, not a detail to sort out later.
Not sure this is the right major in the first place? Take the free college major quiz — fifteen questions that score what you like doing against what each major actually asks of you, and show the same real occupations underneath every match.
Psychology degrees: FAQ
Do you need a master's degree after a psychology degree?
For 6 of the 15 destinations on this page, no: BLS Employment Projections (2024–2034) list a bachelor's degree or less as the typical entry requirement. The other 9 typically need a master's or a doctoral or professional degree, and each is marked on the list below. "Typical" describes what people already in the job hold, not an admissions rule.
What is the highest-paying career a psychology degree leads to?
Of the 15 destinations on this page, Industrial-Organizational Psychologist has the highest national median wage at $193,950 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025), against $50,980 for all US occupations. Typical entry education for it is master's, so it usually means further study after the degree. A median is the midpoint of everyone in the job today, so a first salary normally sits well below it.
Which of these careers hires the most people each year?
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor, with about 104,400 projected openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034). Across all 15 destinations on this page the combined figure is roughly 512,200 openings a year. Openings include replacing people who leave, not just new jobs, which is why a slow-growing occupation can still hire heavily.
Is a psychology degree worth it?
That depends on the price you pay for it, which this page cannot know. What it can tell you is where the destinations sit: the middle occupation on this list pays $66,940 a year against $50,980 for all US occupations, the range runs $45,930–$193,950, and 14 of the 15 are projected to grow over 2024–2034 (BLS OEWS May 2025, BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034).
How was this list of careers put together?
The destinations were curated as the occupations psychology graduates commonly move into, ordered by how common rather than by pay, then matched against the 923-occupation NueCareer career bank. Every figure shown comes from that bank: wages from BLS OEWS May 2025, projected change and annual openings and typical entry education from BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034, and occupation descriptions from O*NET 30.3 Database. Nothing is estimated, and no figure on this page is generated by an AI model.
What can you do with other degrees?
- Computer Science
- Nursing
- Mechanical Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Business Administration
- Finance and Accounting
- Marketing
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Education
- Communications and Journalism
- Graphic Design
- Political Science and Pre-Law
- Environmental Science
- Kinesiology and Exercise Science
- Social Work
- Mathematics and Statistics
- Hospitality and Event Management
- Criminal Justice
- Sociology
- Public Health
- Philosophy
- Health Science
- History
- Anthropology
- English
- Nutrition and Dietetics
- Art History
- Information Technology
- Human Resources
- Economics