The Pay Scale for Clinical Psychologists

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According to Payscale.com, typical salaries for clinical psychologists range between $51,885 and $90,330. However, it is important to note that several different factors can impact the salary you might expect including level of education, years of experience, work setting and geographic location.

Education

The simplest degree to attain is the associate’s degree, which may be completed at a junior college or community college. This is a two year degree, which is a good background for transferring to a university toward a bachelor’s degree. Not many jobs are available at the associate level. Psychiatric technicians and rehabilitation workers may find jobs with government facilities at a very restrictive salary and inferior benefits.

Psychologists with a bachelor’s degree usually have four years of completed specialty in a university. It is an undergraduate level degree that may consist of Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science. This degree is a good base for furthering education in a graduate program for completion of a master’s or doctorate. Clinical psychologist pay scale at the associate or bachelor’s degree level has definitely not met its full potential. The pay range, depending on the program and affiliation is somewhere between $40,000 and $54,000 annually. Experience is a definite factor. A clinical psychologist pay scale with a master’s degree may vary between $57,000 and $101,000 depending on their experience.

Clinical psychologist pay scale at the doctorate or PhD level may reach in excess of $160,000 annually.

Experience

As with any other career, experience is always a factor in pay scale issues. A clinical psychologist with 10-20 years experience may earn well over $100,000 in private sector and even more if affiliated with a particular group or healthcare providers. For some time now, there seems to be safety in numbers for certain types of providers and clinical psychologists are no exception. When working within a designated group of providers, there are many advantages available. Pooling resources and dividing revenue can be great for larger groups.

Financially, overhead burdens are shared and less of the weight falls on one particular individual. Insurance and malpractice premium bundling can also help with increasing personal income flow. Autonomy is still intact and yet support when illness or life issues occur is readily available.

International Pay Scale

In Canada, a high percentage of psychologists are age 45 or older. Therefore, marketability for younger professionals will be more open when this group of providers retires. There is much need in areas like Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. There is currently a critical shortage of psychologist in Prince Edward Island. Half of the positions at P.E.I. are still constantly waiting to be filled. Canadian salaries for clinical psychologists are comparable to those in the United States.

Mexico

Due to limited government assistance and extremely high poverty rates, the need for psychologists in Mexico is great, but availability and insurance coverage is practically non-existent. In the large cities like Mexico City, there may be limited availability and salary ranges are not easily traced.

Socialist economies have fixed incomes for many providers and these fees may be adjusted or changed year to year, depending on governmental funding and resources available at that particular time.