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

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

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.

1. Social and Human Service Assistant
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.
Social and Human Service Assistant salary & outlook →
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.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
3. Human Resources Specialist
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.
Human Resources Specialist salary & outlook →
4. Market Research Analyst and Marketing Specialist
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.
Market Research Analyst and Marketing Specialist salary & outlook →
5. Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselor and Advisor
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.
Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselor and Advisor salary & outlook →
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.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
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…
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
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.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
9. Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker
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.
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker salary & outlook →
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.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
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.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
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.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
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.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
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.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
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.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.

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.

How this list was built

15 careers a psychology degree commonly leads to

1. Social and Human Service Assistant

2. Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor

3. Human Resources Specialist

4. Market Research Analyst and Marketing Specialist

5. Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselor and Advisor

6. Mental Health Counselor

7. Rehabilitation Counselor

8. Probation Officer and Correctional Treatment Specialist

9. Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker

10. Marriage and Family Therapist

11. School Psychologist

12. Clinical Psychologist

13. Industrial-Organizational Psychologist

14. Survey Researcher

15. Psychology Teacher, Postsecondary