Average Social Worker Salary

By Author: Rob Thomas
Total Articles: 4762
Comment this article

Most people think twice before opting a career in social services, because of the supposed low pay. For people, who do wish to make a career in this field need not worry, because a social worker salary is far from meagre. There are many positions at the entry level, that do not pay a satisfactory amount and may require some amount of paper and family work. For the truly motivated, it should not be a problem, since it can be source of true satisfaction, watching someone overcome their problems. This may not be the most coveted line for people who nurture ambition. However there are other ways to supplementing one's income by setting up a private practice, or become a supervisor to student social workers or maybe climbing the hierarchy ladder within the agency.

Before joining this line of work, one needs to understand what entails a social worker's duties, at a glance. For instance in a school or a high school, a social worker needs to motivate students to perform better in academics and have a healthy social life. At times, he/she may have to watch over children who may have lost their parents at an early age and are ...
... now in foster care. Or, they may also need to provide emotional support to aging people in nursing homes. There are various categories for a social worker salary. The determinants are listed as below:

Level of Expertise and and Experience- If a social worker is a fresher and has very minimum experience, one is eligible to receive $26,000 to $33,000 per annum. For people who have an experience of 4 years or more, their pay can be anything between $27000 to $36000 per year. A worker with more than nine years of experience, can receive a yearly package of $30,000 to $41,000 per year. For people with nearly two decades of experience, their pay scale can be anywhere around $35000 to $51000.

Facility of Employment- Workers employed in non-profit or non-governmental organisations can expect pay in the range of $28000 to $36000. Workers employed in hospitals can hope to receive a pay check somewhere between $31000 to $47000. In the case of employment in a federal government institution, one can expect a renumeration of $30,000 to $48000. The pay scale for social workers in local government and state agencies ranges from $30,000 to $45000 per year. Self employed social worker salary range can extend anywhere between $24000 to $50,000 per year.

Location of Employment- The highest paid state for social workers in the US is California, followed by New York. Then come, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas and the states where the pay is the lowest is Michigan and Florida. Social worker salary varies from state to state.

To gain an all round experience, one may wish to apply to many organizations for different kinds of experience. If one wishes to get into private practice, one needs to be employed in different counselling centers. The experience may come in handy especially in the accounts section. Another advantage of being a social worker is, it is practically immune to recession, since there is always a need for conscientous people.
About Author:
Please visit this link for more information on Social Worker Salary and this link for information on Supervisor Salary.