If you’re currently working in the field or looking to study, you’ll want to keep this list of the best states for social workers in your back pocket.
Social workers help other people cope with and solve problems in their lives. There is a group of social workers called the clinical social group where those individuals are able to give diagnoses and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional issues. Social workers are employed in a variety of places, like mental health clinics, schools, child welfare, hospitals, and private practices. If you’re a social worker or have a degree in social work there are a variety of fields you can get into, as evidenced by the number of places one can work.
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In order to become a social worker, you need a degree in social work, which sounds easy enough. If you want to become a clinical social worker, which opens up more job opportunity, you’ll need a postgraduate degree and two years of experience after that point. To work in the field you need to have a license in the state you’re practicing, too, and we’ll help you out in picking the best state for that in a moment.
Social workers are needed everywhere since people are always going through issues that require them to seek help. Demand is generally always high, which is evidenced on our list of the 11 Cities with the Highest Demand for Social Workers. Demand isn’t the only factor when it comes to choosing a place to live, though. You’re probably also interested in salary. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2015 the average annual salary was $45,900, which comes to about $22.07 an hour.
This career path isn’t easy, as you might end up having to work weekends and holidays. You probably want your time off to be paid, too, especially if you work a ton of overtime. Because of this, we took into consideration the best states to move, live, work, and earn a good amount of money in, using the Bureau of Labor Statistics as the jumping off point. We considered social workers in all fields, like child, family, school, healthcare, and more. The two main criteria we considered were the cost of living index and the average annual salary. We took the average of those to get the best idea of the best states for social workers. The reason we took the average is because it doesn’t matter if a state’s salary is high if it costs too much to live there. We wanted to make sure the combinations of high salary and low cost of living index made it to the top of the list.
Pack your bags and get your notebooks ready for your new job!
25. Florida
Cost of living index: 99
Average annual wage: $48,705
Average hourly wage: $23.41
Number of employees: 12,600
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24. Kansas
Cost of living index: 90.4
Average annual wage: $44,530
Average hourly wage: $21.40
Number of employees: 5,100
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23. Ohio
Cost of living index: 93
Average annual wage: $45,822
Average hourly wage: $22.03
Number of employees: 26,970
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22. Nebraska
Cost of living index: 91.3
Average annual wage: $45,032
Average hourly wage: $21.65
Number of employees: 4,530
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21. Tennessee
Cost of living index: 89.8
Average annual wage: $44,605
Average hourly wage: $21.44
Number of employees: 10,550
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20. Delaware
Cost of living index: 102.6
Average annual wage: $51,017
Average hourly wage: $24.52
Number of employees: 2,310
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19. North Carolina
Cost of living index: 94.2
Average annual wage: $47,750
Average hourly wage: $22.95
Number of employees: 17,820
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18. Louisiana
Cost of living index: 94.4
Average annual wage: $47,902
Average hourly wage: $23.03
Number of employees: 4,430
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17. North Dakota
Cost of living index: 98.9
Average annual wage: $50,210
Average hourly wage: $24.13
Number of employees: 1,510
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16. Alabama
Cost of living index: 91.2
Average annual wage: $46,530
Average hourly wage: $22.37
Number of employees: 7,670
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15. Iowa
Cost of living index: 91.7
Average annual wage: $47,285
Average hourly wage: $22.73
Number of employees: 6,880
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14. Washington
Cost of living index: 107.1
Average annual wage: $55,760
Average hourly wage: $26.80
Number of employees: 11,970
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13. Wisconsin
Cost of living index: 96.9
Average annual wage: $50,860
Average hourly wage: $24.45
Number of employees: 8,620
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12. Indiana
Cost of living index: 87.9
Average annual wage: $46,557
Average hourly wage: $22.38
Number of employees: 11,730
We’re halfway through our list of best states for social workers, and now, let’s see the other half.
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11. Virginia
Cost of living index: 100.2
Average annual wage: $53,172
Average hourly wage: $25.56
Number of employees: 15,170
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10. New Jersey
Cost of living index: 121
Average annual wage: $64,722
Average hourly wage: $31.11
Number of employees: 12,200
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9. Georgia
Cost of living index: 91.4
Average annual wage: $48,922
Average hourly wage: $23.52
Number of employees: 13,990
8. Minnesota
Cost of living index: 101.1
Average annual wage: $54,217
Average hourly wage: $26.06
Number of employees: 12,410
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7. Utah
Cost of living index: 92.8
Average annual wage: $49,857
Average hourly wage: $23.96
Number of employees: 4,600
6. Nevada
Cost of living index: 104.5
Average annual wage: $57,810
Average hourly wage: $27.79
Number of employees: 4,530
5. Wyoming
Cost of living index: 91.7
Average annual wage: $51,907
Average hourly wage: $24.95
Number of employees: 1,160
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4. Idaho
Cost of living index: 89.6
Average annual wage: $50,982
Average hourly wage: $24.51
Number of employees: 2,570
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3. Texas
Cost of living index: 90.7
Average annual wage: $52,160
Average hourly wage: $25.07
Number of employees: 29,930
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2. Michigan
Cost of living index: 88.2
Average annual wage: $51,357
Average hourly wage: $24.69
Number of employees: 24,870
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1. Illinois
Cost of living index: 95.5
Average annual wage: $57,117
Average hourly wage: $27.46
Number of employees: 24,660
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We hope we managed to show you the 25 best states for social workers so you can decide where you want to move if you want to increase your quality of life and improve your career!
