The social work profession is diverse and rewarding. It seeks to help people, families, and communities improve their quality of life. Social work professionals operate in different environments, focus on different areas, and address specific problems for specific communities. This extensive guide analyzes 15 social work career paths, their histories, key people, and current salary ranges.
Individual and Clinical Specializations
Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
Professionals in the field include therapists, counselors and psychiatrists. They evaluate and treat emotional and behavioral problems individually or in groups. Most of these professionals run their own private practices, while some work in hospitals and mental health clinics. This work requires advanced degrees and licenses from the state.
The first social work clinical practice emerged in the 1900’s when social workers began addressing mental health issues in the context of poverty and family problems. One of the first social workers in the field, Bertha Capen Reynolds, developed unique psychosocial casework techniques from the 1920’s to 1940’s which integrated Freudian techniques with other supportive methods for individuals and communities. Reynolds laid the foundation for the clinical assessment and treatment methods that are still used in the field today.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $44,000 – $55,000 annually
- Maximum: $100,000 – $159,000 annually
- Average: $70,000 – $94,000 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (California, New York), Switzerland (CHF 68,460/$70,015 average), and Australia (AUD $85,000-105,000)
Child and Family Social Worker
These professionals help children and families through problems such as abuse, neglect, and needing support from parents. They make treatment plans, resource famiily plan links, and families. These professionals work with child protective services or family support services. The first child welfare advocates emerged from the child welfare movement of the late 1800s.
The movement became more prominent after the case of Mary Ellen Wilson in 1874, which highlighted child abuse. Family services advocates and child welfare legal advocates were among the first to support children and family services. Jane Addams, founder of Hull House in Chicago in 1889, was among the first to support children and family services. After WWII, services for children and family advocates and child protective services became more formal.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $34,500 – $36,500 annually
- Maximum: $87,000 – $117,000 annually
- Average: $56,600 – $76,000 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (Connecticut – $72,000 average, Washington D.C. – $80,000 average), Australia (AUD $85,000-105,000), and Canada (CAD $56,000-75,000)
School Social Worker
In learning settings, staff assist pupils with emotional and behavioral difficulties that can hinder learning. Staff collaborate with teachers and parents, offer counseling, and help students with academic and personal issues.
In the 1900s, the first school social work was driven by progressive educators seeing social problems as hindrances to learning. Olive Whittier is known as the first school support service worker having started in Boston in 1906. This focus area greatly increased in breadth and depth in the 20th century particularly post 1960s with an increased awareness of learning disabilities and emotional and behavioral issues.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $40,000 – $44,000 annually
- Maximum: $72,000 – $74,000 annually
- Average: $53,900 – $55,500 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (California – $93,228 average, New York – $70,690 average), Australia (AUD $85,000-105,000), and United Kingdom (£30,000-45,000/$38,000-57,000)
Medical Social Worker
Medical professionals help people with problems related to health, injury, and hospital stays. Psychologically, they help people cope with medical situations, help with the coordination of care, discharge planning, and connect patients to other medical and supportive care resources.
Massachusetts General Hospital was the pioneer of integrating social support into health care in the 1890s, when they first hired social workers who helped patients with social barriers to recovery. Richard Cabot and Ida Cannon helped lay the foundation for this new field, knowing that medical care must include attention to social issues. Their contributions during the first decades of the 20th century put medical social work on the map and established it as an essential service in hospitals.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $59,500 – $60,500 annually
- Maximum: $86,000 – $88,700 annually
- Average: $62,700 – $65,900 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (Oregon – $77,150 average, Connecticut, California), Switzerland (CHF 68,000-74,000/$70,000-76,000), and Australia (AUD $85,000-105,000)
Psychiatric Social Worker
Social workers within the mental health care system assist people with mental health issues. They provide support through therapy and psychosocial rehab at psychiatric hospitals and community mental health centers.
Psychiatric social work began in the early 1900’s with the mental hygiene movement. Pioneers E.E Southard and Mary Jarrett at Boston Psychopathic Hospital in 1913, developed psychiatric casework methods that integrated medical and social model perspectives. Their work set the foundation for modern psychiatric support.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $55,000 – $60,000 annually
- Maximum: $85,500 – $104,500 annually
- Average: $60,100 – $72,700 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (New York – $79,700 average, California, Nevada), Switzerland (CHF 68,000-74,000/$70,000-76,000), and Norway (NOK 447,600/$52,520 average)
Geriatric Social Worker
Social workers support older adults and help manage problems associated with health decline, isolation, and health care planning at the end-of-life. These specialists are employed in nursing facilities, senior citizen community centers and hospitals, and hospice care.
The recognition of geriatric social work as a distinct area of professional practice began in the 1950s and 1960s, during which time there were increasing concerns regarding the age of the population and associated retirement issues. Dr. Robert Butler, a gerontologist, and Elaine Cumming were key advocates in the establishment of the need for more focused services for older people which spearheaded the development of geriatric social work programs in the 1970s.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $50,000 – $52,500 annually
- Maximum: $70,000 – $75,000 annually
- Average: $52,500 – $62,000 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (California, Connecticut, Washington), Australia (AUD $85,000-105,000), and Canada (CAD $50,000-70,000)
Specialized Field Practice
Substance Abuse Social Worker
Professionals in the field assist individuals facing challenges related to addiction and dependency on drugs. They help people with structure and support, as well as plan things out, schedule support groups, and help people with accessing recovery resources and rehabilitation.
Due to the heroin epidemic and increased concern regarding the abuse of drugs, this area of concern grew rapidly during the 1960 and 70’s. Hazelden Foundation, established in 1949 in Minnesota, was the first to integrate community support services with addiction treatment. After the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism was opened in 1970, addiction specialists became a key component to treatment.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $38,500 – $48,600 annually
- Maximum: $92,500 – $115,000 annually
- Average: $55,700 – $76,000 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (Maine – $68,900 average, Washington D.C., Nevada), Australia (AUD $80,000-100,000), and United Kingdom (£28,000-45,000/$35,000-57,000)
Adoption or Foster Care Social Worker
These social workers aid in address foster care placements and adoptions. They conduct home studies, prepare families, and provide post-placement support. They defend the rights of children and guide adoptive and foster families through difficult changes.
New options other than orphanages were developed in the progressive era (1890’s to 1920’s), leading to the creation of foster care. Charles Loring Brace was a pioneer in foster care. He began the Children’s Aid Society in 1853 and was the first to suggest putting children in families. After WWII, and with the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, there was great advancement in the field of adoption.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $29,000 – $40,400 annually
- Maximum: $65,600 – $88,500 annually
- Average: $43,900 – $51,600 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (California – $64,614 average, Minnesota – $61,113 average), Australia (AUD $75,000-95,000), and United Kingdom (£25,000-42,000/$31,000-53,000)
Military Social Worker
The professionals in this area deal with active duty service members, veterans, their family members, stress related to deployment, trauma related to combat, and adjusting to civilian life. The professionals provide direction and connect service members to veteran entitlements and assistance resources.
Social work in the military started during World War I when the first social workers provided services to soldiers and their families. It expanded significantly after World War II, because of the GI bill and boosted veterans’ entitlements. The military Administration systemically began to integrate social workers into the healthcare system after PTSD became recognized in the post-Vietnam era.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $34,500 – $53,000 annually
- Maximum: $106,500 – $117,000 annually
- Average: $59,000 – $76,000 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (Veterans Administration facilities across all states, Washington D.C.), Canada (CAD $55,000-80,000), and Australia (AUD $80,000-110,000 for government/veteran services)
Community Social Worker
The social workers working in the field of community development and organizations focus on enhancing communities by advocating for their needs, providing education, and developing essential resources. They are community builders, and social problem organizers and respond to the social issues of the large population.
Many of the first community workers can be traced back to the Settlement House Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and of leaders like Jane Addams and Lillian Wald. These early workers went into the community instead of staying in clinical settings, and addressed the issues of community poverty, housing and education. The 1960s War on Poverty launched community social work as a distinct professional practice once again.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $45,000 – $50,000 annually
- Maximum: $71,000 – $80,000 annually
- Average: $56,400 – $61,300 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (California, New York, Washington), Canada (CAD $52,000-75,000), and United Kingdom (£27,000-42,000/$34,000-53,000)
Hospice/Palliative Care Social Worker
Hospice care social workers help patients with serious illnesses (and their families) at every stage of the end of life process. They help with emotional, life review, spiritual care, and grief/ bereavement support.
Modern hospice social work developed in the 1970s and was influenced by the work of Dame Cicely Saunders and her creation of St. Christopher’s Hospice in London in 1967. The first hospice in the United States opened in Connecticut in 1974 and integrated social workers as key members of the team. This role developed as the awareness of the psychological and social challenges of dying patients grew.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $47,000 – $54,000 annually
- Maximum: $78,000 – $97,000 annually
- Average: $62,600 – $71,700 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (California, Connecticut, Oregon), Australia (AUD $85,000-105,000), and Canada (CAD $58,000-82,000)
Legal and Administrative Roles
Forensic Social Worker
Forensics workers operate at the interfacing point between social services and the justice system. They mobilize with judiciary, correctional, and police entities, doing assessments, writing reports, and aiding legal constituents. Forensic social work ballooned in the 1950s and 1960s when courts increasingly called for social investigation reports.
Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck were pioneers in this field, examining the relationships between social factors and crime at Harvard. This focus further expanded with the criminal justice reforms in the 1970s.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $46,700 – $54,300 annually
- Maximum: $71,400 – $96,800 annually
- Average: $57,200 – $66,100 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (California, New York, Illinois), United Kingdom (£32,000-50,000/$40,000-63,000), and Australia (AUD $80,000-100,000 for criminal justice social workers)
Domestic Violence Social Worker
These specialists provide crisis intervention, safety planning, and counseling to victims of intimate partner violence. They support survivors’ life re/construction at shelters, advocacy, and outpatient programs.
This discipline emerged from feminism and the abused women’s movement of the 1970’s. For example, Erin Pizzey opened the first shelter for battered women in London in 1971, and the movement spread to the U.S. In the 1980’s, social workers were key in shelters and advocacy.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $50,000 – $55,000 annually
- Maximum: $85,000 – $95,000 annually
- Average: $70,000 – $78,900 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (California, New York, Massachusetts), Canada (CAD $55,000-85,000), and United Kingdom (£30,000-48,000/$38,000-60,000)
Social Work Case Manager
Professionals in this field ensure clients receive necessary services by developing and linking clients to essential resources. Additionally, they monitor and report on client outcomes, streamline access to services, and ensure continuous care coordination among various service providers.
While the history of case management goes to the very beginnings of casework, it started becoming more recognizable in the 1970s and 1980s with the further disintegration of service systems. Case management became an essential practice due to the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) and the growth of managed care.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $39,000 – $42,500 annually
- Maximum: $75,000 – $86,400 annually
- Average: $49,800 – $70,500 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (California, Washington D.C., Maryland), Australia (AUD $75,000-95,000), and Canada (CAD $48,000-75,000)
Policy Analyst Social Worker
These community social workers design social policies on the community, state, and federal levels. They research community social issues, analyze the impacts of policies, and advocate laws that enhance the well-being of marginalized communities.
In the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement, the advocacy of policy change became its own ‘sub’ field. Whitney Young Jr., head of the National Urban League, was passionate about championing policies related to civil rights and social justice. The 1980s and 90s saw the profession’s first licensing which further enabled the profession to impact policies.
Salary Range
- Minimum: $70,000 – $80,000 annually
- Maximum: $120,000 – $150,000 annually
- Average: $100,000 – $110,000 annually
- Highest Paying Countries: United States (Washington D.C., California, New York), Switzerland (CHF 90,000-120,000/$92,000-123,000 for policy roles), and Canada (CAD $85,000-135,000 for federal positions)
Conclusion
Almost all social work professions can be broken down into multiple subdivisions, most of which revolve around helping others. Each subdivision of social work has molded the profession into what it is today. These subdivisions stemmed from social work practice pioneers who focused on shaping one dimension of a social problem. Each social work practitioner has transformed the profession from the time of Jane Addams’ settlement houses to contemporary forensic or palliative care, and has responded to changing social needs.
Social work practitioners, no matter the profession, suffer the most when it comes to the human condition and aiding social justice/equity. Each area of focus costs the practitioner a tremendous amount of passion, suffering, and commitment to radical work, and transforming social structures to serve the most vulnerable and oppressed. Social work can vary greatly depending on specialization, degree, experience, location, and practice setting. Each subdivision provides the practitioner with the ability to be a change agent for the community, and, as a bonus, a degree of financial peace.
Social work is a discipline that is dynamic, constantly evolving and expanding. The expected range for new job openings is from 6-9% for the years 2024-2034, which is above the industry average. The increased demand for social work professionals can be attributed to a growing understanding of differing mental health needs, the continuing aging of the population, persistent challenges with substance use at every level, and increased awareness of the value of community services.
