Psychiatric Aides salary

SOC 31-1133 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$44,910

per year, nationally

Middle half

$37,750–$49,950

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

35,520

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-0.4%

5,300 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$32,090$60,440

10th: $32,090
25th: $37,750
Median: $44,910
75th: $49,950
90th: $60,440

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Short-term on-the-job training

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where psychiatric aides earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Minnesota	$55,040	98.6	620	0.92×
2	Washington	$52,570	107.0	330	0.40×
3	Hawaii	$52,310	110.0	30	0.22×
4	Maryland	$51,440	105.0	250	0.40×
5	Nevada	$51,400	100.0	220	0.62×
6	Rhode Island	$51,100	102.3	130	1.16×
7	New York	$50,220	107.9	5,120	2.31×
8	Alaska	$49,300	102.4	190	2.50×
9	Illinois	$48,670	100.0	120	0.09×
10	Oregon	$48,300	103.4	1,550	3.45×
11	Vermont	$47,860	98.0	330	4.71×
12	California	$47,500	110.7	3,760	0.90×
13	Maine	$46,720	97.0	110	0.74×
14	Montana	$46,340	94.6	330	2.80×
15	Colorado	$46,130	103.1	300	0.46×
16	Michigan	$45,800	96.2	1,410	1.41×
17	New Jersey	$45,780	108.8	2,060	2.11×
18	Massachusetts	$45,300	105.8	950	1.15×
19	Oklahoma	$44,960	87.8	—	—
20	Indiana	$44,860	93.3	1,930	2.64×
21	Pennsylvania	$44,790	97.6	1,620	1.17×
22	Connecticut	$44,660	103.6	520	1.34×
23	Texas	$42,560	97.1	1,760	0.55×
24	Utah	$40,810	98.9	130	0.34×
25	Missouri	$39,840	90.8	110	0.16×
26	Iowa	$39,260	87.8	400	1.13×
27	Kentucky	$38,610	90.2	250	0.55×
28	Ohio	$38,480	92.8	980	0.77×
29	North Carolina	$38,400	94.3	—	—
30	Kansas	$38,390	90.1	580	1.77×
31	Florida	$37,930	103.4	2,210	0.98×
32	West Virginia	$37,910	89.5	220	1.34×
33	Virginia	$37,280	101.1	—	—
34	Georgia	$36,790	96.3	1,090	0.98×
35	South Carolina	$36,320	93.7	200	0.38×
36	Arkansas	$36,270	86.9	490	1.64×
37	Mississippi	$30,510	87.0	2,490	9.37×
38	Louisiana	$30,030	88.2	280	0.64×
39	Alabama	$27,150	88.8	790	1.63×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where psychiatric aides wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for psychiatric aides

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$75,670	109.4	210	3.44×
2	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$60,110	103.2	370	6.66×
3	Utica-Rome, NY	$58,600	92.7	220	8.25×
4	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$58,550	110.4	100	0.38×
5	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$57,360	99.8	40	1.06×
6	Kalamazoo-Portage, MI	$55,100	94.8	180	6.47×
7	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$53,520	100.2	210	0.80×
8	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$52,570	111.1	320	0.68×
9	Colorado Springs, CO	$51,670	100.7	40	0.50×
10	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$51,610	104.8	220	0.50×
11	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$51,440	104.5	160	0.52×
12	Salem, OR	$50,580	103.6	910	21.02×
13	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$50,140	95.8	260	2.14×
14	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$49,840	112.6	4,310	1.99×
15	Syracuse, NY	$49,820	95.7	140	2.01×
16	Merced, CA	$49,590	98.3	120	6.61×
17	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$49,560	101.6	220	6.21×
18	Binghamton, NY	$49,340	92.9	110	5.04×
19	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$48,780	106.4	310	0.80×
20	Anchorage, AK	$48,730	105.4	170	4.20×
21	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$48,670	103.6	200	0.20×
22	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$48,560	102.6	870	1.32×
23	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$48,100	108.3	570	0.93×
24	Helena, MT	$47,930	95.7	30	3.08×
25	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$47,780	103.1	290	0.31×
26	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$47,730	105.8	110	0.31×
27	Fresno, CA	$47,480	102.2	80	0.76×
28	Columbus, OH	$47,160	95.5	360	1.42×
29	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$47,080	106.7	260	1.04×
30	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$47,050	113.6	1,450	1.01×
31	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$46,280	111.9	130	0.38×
32	Evansville, IN	$46,080	91.5	160	5.06×
33	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$46,010	101.8	280	1.74×
34	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$45,660	105.4	270	0.98×
35	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$45,410	100.3	580	1.32×
36	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$45,080	95.7	780	3.07×
37	Pittsburgh, PA	$44,920	94.7	490	1.92×
38	Reading, PA	$44,720	97.1	130	3.31×
39	Redding, CA	$44,700	100.7	40	2.72×
40	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$44,700	102.7	190	1.38×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where psychiatric aides wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Home Health and Personal Care Aides$35,800
Nursing Assistants$42,260
Orderlies$38,290