Jeff Guenther, LPC on Aug 22, 2021
Disclaimer: All data is pulled from the over 15,000 therapists that have chosen to create an account with TherapyDen.com. It is not meant to represent the entirety of counselors and therapists across the U.S.
I’ll get right to the point. On average, therapists on TherapyDen who live close to each other charge about the same amount per session.
If you want to skip reading my opinion on therapy fees and why I think they are the way they are, scroll down to play with the interactive price maps and check out the median cost per therapy session per state and popular U.S. city.
The median session fee changes pretty dramatically depending on where the therapist’s office is located. If you’re a therapist in Rochester, NY you’re likely charging around $110 per session because that’s the median session fee in that area. However, if you practice down the street in New York City, you likely charge closer to $225 as that’s the median session fee in NYC. Interestingly enough, of the 64 cities that TherapyDen ran the data for, New York state has the lowest median session fee (Rochester) and the highest (New York City).
I pulled price data from over 15,000 therapists that have an account with TherapyDen to find out what factors determine the cost of an average session. Let’s dig in.
One might figure that therapists, counselors, social workers and psychologists who provide talk therapy would charge different amounts based on their training, education and experience. While that might be true for therapists living in the same community, that’s not true across city lines. Practitioners in Boca Raton, FL charge a median price of $175. 45 miles south in Miami the median price is $125, which means that a Ph.D. Psychologist in Miami might be charging less per session compared to a newly licensed counselor with just a master’s degree in Boca Raton solely based on how much people expect to pay, or can pay, in that area.
After combing through the data it seems to me that mental health practitioners charge as much as the market can bear. And it’s not so much therapists who are setting the price, but people who live in the community have a major influence over how much they can afford to pay per session. While that’s a very simplified way to look at therapy session price points, it’s something to consider when trying to understand the large differences in price that sweep across the country.
Another big influencing factor is just how much it costs to run a therapy practice. The largest cost of being a therapist is paying for office space, and if you’re paying a lot in office rent, chances are you’re paying a lot per month to pay for your apartment or home in that same city. The cost of running a therapy business and the cost of living are going to influence price per session. That’s why therapists in Santa Monica need to charge so much money, for example, leading to a median price point per session of $200.
Something else to take into consideration is whether or not therapists in a given city typically accept insurance or only accept out-of-pocket payment. A therapist in Beverly Hills (median price $200) is more likely to not accept insurance payments. The reason being, insurance companies get to set the price for how much they want to pay per session. Insurance companies are paying closer to the $100 range, sometimes lower, when clients use their mental health benefits. Therapists in Beverly Hills aren’t going to be able to afford their office space, snazzy apartment and bedazzled Gucci bags if they’re only collecting $100 per sesh. Most of them are forced to charge higher out of pocket rates so they can maintain their practice costs.
I, on the other hand, practice therapy in Portland, OR and up here we charge a median price of $145. Office rent is cheaper, apartments are more affordable and I lug around my belongings in my reusable NPR tote bag. I am happily in-network with all major insurance carriers because I can live off the $100 per session I am reimbursed. Well, maybe I’m not “happy” about it, but it’s fine, I guess.
One more thing to keep in mind is that therapists have very strange relationships to money and how much to charge their clients. Me included. Lots of us don’t want to charge our clients a ton of money because we want to be more accessible to poorer people. Poor people have a higher chance of having worse insurance that doesn’t provide much at all for mental health services. If therapists in private practice charge too much money then poor people are forced to receive treatment from community mental health agencies where counselors and social workers are battling burnout and mental health crises regularly. It’s harder to find high quality care at mental health agencies. I mention all of this because in my opinion, therapy rates would be higher if therapists didn’t lower their fees to meet the demand of folks who don’t have much money.
TherapyDen is a free, inclusive and progressive therapist directory. If you’re a therapist, please consider creating a profile to help move the mental health industry forward with search filters that meet the needs of modern clients. Learn more and create a free profile.
Let’s get to why you clicked on this article in the first place. First we’ll start with each U.S. state and then we’ll move on to popular cities across the country. The data is derived from over 15,000 therapists who’ve entered their rates, and the city they practice in, on TherapyDen. I used the median price to account for any outliers.
Therapists who list their practice on TherapyDen can enter their standard rate and their lower sliding scale rate. I chose to analyze therapists’ standard rates because that’s the rate they’re aiming to charge most of their clients. I’m working on a separate article about sliding scale rates across the country.
Of all the states, five of them were not included due to low volume of data. Those states were Hawaii, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota.
More takeaways:
The most costly therapy can be found in Northern and Southern California, New York City and Boston.
Cheaper therapy is located in the Southeastern part of the U.S.
The cheapest therapy is in Rochester, NY at $110 per session.
The most expensive therapy is in New York City at $225.
If you’re a therapist I urge you to sign up for a free profile listing on TherapyDen. TherapyDen is an all inclusive and progressive therapist directory that is moving the mental health industry forward. To all the therapists that have already signed up for an account, thank you for allowing me to use your session fee data to create these interactive maps :)
Alabama | $130 |
Arizona | $150 |
Arkansas | $165 |
California | $175 |
Colorado | $130 |
Connecticut | $150 |
Delaware | $150 |
District of Columbia | $200 |
Florida | $130 |
Georgia | $150 |
Idaho | $150 |
Illinois | $160 |
Indiana | $135 |
Iowa | $150 |
Kansas | $150 |
Kentucky | $125 |
Louisiana | $128 |
Maine | $140 |
Maryland | $160 |
Massachusetts | $160 |
Michigan | $165 |
Minnesota | $170 |
Mississippi | $150 |
Missouri | $125 |
Montana | $160 |
Nebraska | $160 |
Nevada | $150 |
New Hampshire | $150 |
New Jersey | $175 |
New Mexico | $135 |
New York | $185 |
North Carolina | $150 |
Ohio | $140 |
Oklahoma | $140 |
Oregon | $150 |
Pennsylvania | $140 |
Rhode Island | $150 |
South Carolina | $130 |
Tennessee | $125 |
Texas | $140 |
Utah | $150 |
Vermont | $125 |
Virginia | $150 |
Washington | $150 |
Wisconsin | $150 |
Ann Arbor | MI | $165 |
Asheville | NC | $130 |
Atlanta | GA | $150 |
Austin | TX | $135 |
Baltimore | MD | $150 |
Berkeley | CA | $175 |
Beverly Hills | CA | $200 |
Boca Raton | FL | $175 |
Boise | ID | $145 |
Boston | MA | $200 |
Boulder | CO | $140 |
Brooklyn | NY | $200 |
Charlotte | NC | $150 |
Chicago | IL | $160 |
Cincinnati | OH | $135 |
Colorado Springs | CO | $120 |
Dallas | TX | $150 |
Denver | CO | $150 |
Durham | NC | $140 |
Eugene | OR | $168 |
Grand Rapids | MI | $140 |
Houston | TX | $150 |
Indianapolis | IN | $150 |
Jacksonville | FL | $120 |
Kansas City | MO | $125 |
Las Vegas | NV | $150 |
Long Beach | CA | $150 |
Los Angeles | CA | $185 |
Louisville | KY | $125 |
Madison | WI | $150 |
Miami | FL | $125 |
Milwaukee | WI | $175 |
Minneapolis | MN | $160 |
Nashville | TN | $150 |
New Orleans | LA | $125 |
New York | NY | $225 |
Oakland | CA | $175 |
Oklahoma City | OK | $148 |
Olympia | WA | $160 |
Orlando | FL | $125 |
Pasadena | CA | $160 |
Philadelphia | PA | $150 |
Phoenix | AZ | $150 |
Pittsburgh | PA | $128 |
Plano | TX | $143 |
Portland | OR | $145 |
Providence | RI | $160 |
Raleigh | NC | $148 |
Rochester | NY | $110 |
Sacramento | CA | $145 |
Salt Lake City | UT | $175 |
San Antonio | TX | $150 |
San Diego | CA | $160 |
San Francisco | CA | $190 |
San Jose | CA | $190 |
Santa Monica | CA | $200 |
Seattle | WA | $150 |
Spokane | WA | $130 |
St. Louis | MO | $128 |
St. Paul | MO | $160 |
Tampa | FL | $125 |
Tucson | AZ | $150 |
Washington | DC | $200 |
Wichita | KS | $165 |
Jeff Guenther, LPC, is a therapist in Portland, OR. He has been in private practice since 2005. Jeff is the creator and owner of Portland Therapy Center, a highly ranked therapist directory. Jeff, and his team, have launched a new progressive therapist directory, TherapyDen.