Clinical and Counseling Psychologists vs Physicists: $101K vs $172K Median Pay

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists vs Physicists: what changes?

Consider Clinical and Counseling Psychologists if you want to assess, diagnose, and treat mental and emotional disorders of individuals through observation, interview, and psychological tests. Consider Physicists if you would rather conduct research into physical phenomena, develop theories on the basis of observation and experiments, and devise methods to apply physical laws and theories. Both list doctoral or professional degree; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Clinical and Counseling Psychologists and Physicists. List the duties, credentials, prior experience, and paid training each employer actually asks for. Try a supervised class or sample project from each field before choosing a program.

BLS 2025 wages and 2025–2035 projections. National medians are not starting offers. Occupation size is not a count of vacancies. View the BLS data.

Compare the practical differences

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists

National median pay (2025): $100,580
Route into the job: Doctoral or professional degree; Internship or residency follows qualifying education. Check its duration, pay, and licensing requirements
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: Internship or residency follows qualifying education. Check its duration, pay, and licensing requirements.
Work to investigate: Conduct assessments of patients' risk for harm to self or others.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 4,100

Know before you choose

Training continues through internship/residency after the degree path.

See the full Clinical and Counseling Psychologists brief

Physicists

National median pay (2025): $172,250
Route into the job: Doctoral or professional degree
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: BLS does not list a separate on-the-job training requirement. Employers may still provide orientation and role-specific training.
Work to investigate: Perform complex calculations as part of the analysis and evaluation of data, using computers.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 1,300

Know before you choose

This is a small national occupation (23,200 jobs in 2025), so location and employer concentration can matter more than the national median suggests.

See the full Physicists brief

How the national numbers differ

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists has the edge on annual openings

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists is at 4,100 annual openings, compared with 1,300 annual openings for Physicists.

Physicists has the edge on median pay

Physicists is at $172,250, compared with $100,580 for Clinical and Counseling Psychologists.

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists has the edge on projected growth

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists is at 11.7% projected growth, compared with 7.2% projected growth for Physicists.

64.2/ 100

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists

58.4/ 100

Physicists

Each available metric is ranked from 0 to 100 against the careers on ChooseField. The weighted average uses this profile: pay 30%, growth 25%, openings 30%, preparation level 15%. Missing values are not scored as zero; their weights are redistributed across available metrics. Occupation size has zero weight: employment is not accessible vacancies. Preparation categories do not measure admission difficulty or years without earnings. The score summarizes national measures; local opportunities and personal fit still need separate consideration.

Detailed evidence

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists vs Physicists

Dimension	Clinical and Counseling Psychologists	Physicists
Median pay (2025)	$100,580	$172,250
Pay percentile	83.3 percentile	96.7 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	11.7%	7.2%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	4,100	1,300
2025 employment	81,300	23,200
How you qualify	Doctoral or professional degree; Internship or residency follows qualifying education. Check its duration, pay, and licensing requirements	Doctoral or professional degree
O*NET preparation group	Job Zone 5	Job Zone 5
Related work experience	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
On-the-job training	Internship or residency follows qualifying education. Check its duration, pay, and licensing requirements.	BLS does not list a separate on-the-job training requirement. Employers may still provide orientation and role-specific training.

The table reports national benchmarks and reviewed work descriptions. It does not rate personal suitability, job security, or physical safety.

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Clinical and Counseling Psychologists vs Physicists: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists

Physicists

How the national numbers differ

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists has the edge on annual openings

Physicists has the edge on median pay

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists has the edge on projected growth

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists vs Physicists

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