True Meaning of the Art Therapy Salary

Very few people get into art therapy because the art therapy salary is terrific and wonderful, paying much more than anything else involving art. A lot of things vary with the number crunching--location, experience, private practice, general practice, if there is a need where the job is, and how much time you want to commit. Art therapy salary usually ranges out to five cents an hour, it is said by those who work for other reasons besides the paycheck.

A good rule of thumb is to research online, which may or may not be close to what you want or what you will get. A median range of salaries per year, with no surprise to anyone that California pays the most, in the United States is:
• California  $42,490
• Illinois  $42,110
• New York  $40,955
• New Jersey $37,061
• Pennsylvania $34,701
• Virginia  $30,215
• North Carolina $28,327

As with most jobs, especially those on salary, the more experience a person has the higher the money to be paid. With an art therapy salary, a range of 10 to 19 years will pay approximately about $41,058 annually. If a person is in private practice and has a decent number of clients, then this number could go up to $70,000 or so. But if a person is just starting out with one to four years, expect only about $35,331 annually or with five to nine year, an annual salary of $38,466 can be expected.

The location of the city, instead of the state, varies a lot in the expected art therapy salary. New York ranged about $41,366 annually with nine positions open, as compared to Philadelphia at $33,590 annually with only four positions open. In the middle range is Chicago, with an estimated $42,764 annual salary and seven positions open. Other cities are listed at the bottom, not because they are the cheapest but because they refuse to acknowledge what their salaries are to the general public unless an application is filled out and submitted: Portland, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Louisville. 

Art therapy salaries are difficult to say, as the position of Art Therapist is not in their own category but in other occupations:
• Community and Social Service Specialists
• Recreational Therapists
• All other therapists

 From all of the above information, it can be surmised that the average annual salary for an average art therapist is $36,600 annually with a range between $30,700 and $43,200 per year.  As stated, if a person has a private practice, lots of experience, lives in a certain well-paying location, and if there is a huge demand for them--the salary could be doubled.

A long way up the hill from college and a master's level education, the desire to help and work with troubled people is much more important than making it rich.  And with the education required, it has to come from the heart. In order to become an Art Therapist that is registered, a minimum of 1,000 hours of supervised postgraduate service must be completed.