Mental Health Technician Hourly Pay & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 5,443 US job postings by 993 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for mental health technicians: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 5,443 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for mental health technicians in US job postings is $20.66 an hour (1,635 postings from 300 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $18.50 to $23.00 an hour.
- Postings that ask for up to 1 year of experience advertise a median of $21.00 an hour (561 postings).
- The skills that most set mental health technician postings apart are crisis intervention, de-escalation techniques.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 1 year of experience.
Mental Health Technician job postings in the US, October 2026
- $20.66/hr
- Median advertised pay (1,635 postings)
- $18.50–$23.00
- Middle 50% of postings
- $21.00/hr
- Starting pay (postings asking up to 1 year)
- 5,443
- US job postings from 993 employers
How much does a mental health technician make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $20.66 an hour, from 1,635 US job postings by 300 employers that state pay. That is about $43,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 1,635 US mental health technician job postings: median $43,000 a year ($20.66 an hour), middle half $39,000 to $48,000.
- Median: $43,000 ($20.66/hr)
- 25th percentile: $39,000
- 75th percentile: $48,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $10K–$20K | 0.1% |
| $20K–$30K | 0.6% |
| $30K–$40K | 31.0% |
| $40K–$50K | 48.5% |
| $50K–$60K | 15.1% |
| $60K–$70K | 2.1% |
| $70K–$80K | 1.3% |
| $80K–$90K | 0.6% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $20.66 | $18.50–$23.00 | 1,011 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $43,000 | $39K–$48K | 1,635 |
What is the starting salary for a mental health technician?
Postings that ask for up to 1 year of experience advertise a median of $21.00 an hour (561 postings).
| Experience asked | Median advertised pay | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1 years | $21.00/hr | 561 |
| 2-4 years | $22.50/hr | 257 |
| 5+ years | withheld | 10 |
Highest-paying mental health technician jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental Health Technician (general) | $21.96/hr | 331 | 108 |
| Behavioral Health Technician | $20.00/hr | 279 | 78 |
| Residential Counselor | $20.00/hr | 898 | 123 |
Mental health technician pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $24.74/hr | $23.00–$27.31 | 107 | 6.0% |
| Massachusetts | $21.50/hr | $20.00–$22.59 | 525 | 17.1% |
| New York | $20.00/hr | $18.98–$23.83 | 118 | 8.1% |
| Pennsylvania | $17.50/hr | $16.35–$19.50 | 115 | 9.3% |
Skills employers ask for in mental health technician job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 27% |
| Interpersonal skills | 15% |
| Problem-solving | 9% |
| Compassionate | 7% |
| Microsoft Office | 7% |
| Crisis intervention | 7% |
| Work independently | 6% |
| Organizational skills | 5% |
| Excel | 5% |
| Empathy | 5% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set mental health technicians apart
- Crisis intervention18× as often as in all postings · 7%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a mental health technician job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a mental health technician do?
Employers post these jobs as Behavioral Health Technician, Residential Counselor, Behavioral Health Tech, Mental Health Worker, Residential Aide and other titles. The largest specializations are Behavioral Health Technician (26%), Residential Counselor (36%), Behavioral Health Advocate (under 1%).
The closest official occupation is Psychiatric Technicians (29-2053.00). Its most important tasks:
- Provide nursing, psychiatric, or personal care to patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.
- Encourage patients to develop work skills and to participate in social, recreational, or other therapeutic activities that enhance interpersonal skills or develop social relationships.
- Restrain violent, potentially violent, or suicidal patients by verbal or physical means as required.
- Lead prescribed individual or group therapy sessions as part of specific therapeutic procedures.
- Monitor patients' physical and emotional well-being and report unusual behavior or physical ailments to medical staff.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a mental health technician?
Among 1,292 postings that state a minimum, the median is 1 year. 1% say 0 years and 63% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 1,292 US mental health technician job postings: median 1 year, and 63% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 6% |
| 1 yr | 57% |
| 2 yrs | 28% |
| 3-4 yrs | 8% |
| 5-7 yrs | 1% |
| 8-9 yrs | 0% |
| 10+ yrs | under 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Full-time 78%, Part-time 22% of the 775 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a mental health technician: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Behavioral Health Technician | 209 (21.1%) |
| Mental Health Technician | 130 (13.1%) |
| Residential Counselor | 130 (13.1%) |
| Behavioral Health Tech | 67 (6.8%) |
| Mental Health Worker | 62 (6.2%) |
| Residential Aide | 53 (5.3%) |
| Psychiatric Technician | 53 (5.3%) |
| Mental Health Tech | 48 (4.8%) |
| Residential Specialist | 32 (3.2%) |
| Behavioral Health Associate | 25 (2.5%) |
| Mental Health Associate | 24 (2.4%) |
| Residential Support Staff | 20 (2.0%) |
| Residential Support Specialist | 19 (1.9%) |
| Behavioral Technician | 17 (1.7%) |
| Residence Counselor | 16 (1.6%) |
| Behavioral Health Technician (BHT) | 15 (1.5%) |
| Behavioral Health Aide | 14 (1.4%) |
| Resident Advisor | 14 (1.4%) |
| Mental Health Aide | 13 (1.3%) |
| Psych Tech | 13 (1.3%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Mental health technician job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Behavioral Health Technician | 776 | 209 | – | – | communication, interpersonal skills, Microsoft Office |
| Residential Aide | 265 | 53 | – | – | communication, Microsoft Office, interpersonal skills |
| Residential Counselor | 1,023 | 130 | $21.35/hr | – | communication, interpersonal skills, work independently |
Mental Health Technician compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mental Health Technician | $20.66/hr | 1 year | 5,443 | – |
| Mental Health Counselor | $73K | 2 years | 14,686 | 16 |
| Case Manager | $23.51/hr | 2 years | 17,865 | 17 |
| Youth Worker | $19.00/hr | 1 year | 2,074 | 17 |
| Social Worker | $78K | 2 years | 7,930 | 14 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Mental Health Counselor | 16 | $73K |
| Case Manager | 17 | $23.51/hr |
| Youth Worker | 17 | $19.00/hr |
| Social Worker | 14 | $78K |
| Recreational Therapist | 12 | – |
| Chaplain | 14 | – |
Applying for mental health technician jobs?
- Mental health technician resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find mental health technician jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Residential Counselor make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 20 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.