Strong Demand Projected for Mental Health Professionals in Oregon

by Luke Coury

August 19, 2026

Mental health professionals support the mental well-being of individuals in need. Several occupations provide mental health services including counselors, psychiatrists, and social workers (for a detailed breakdown of the occupations considered in this article, see the list at the end of this article). One way to gauge demand for these occupations in Oregon’s labor market is through the Lightcast-Conference Board’s Help Wanted OnLine series which estimates online job postings.

Demand for Mental Health Workers Grew Faster than All Occupations

Online ad volume for mental health professionals remains elevated in Oregon, unlike ad volume economy-wide, which has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels. Ad volume across all occupations surged after the pandemic recession but returned to January 2019 levels by the end of 2023, where it stabilized. By contrast, ad volume for mental health professionals dipped less during the pandemic recession, rose sharper during the post-recession boom, and plateaued higher over the past few years. Ad volume is still around 30 to 40% greater than it was in January 2019.

 

Strong need across Oregon for mental health services has contributed to the elevated demand. A report from Oregon’s Behavioral Health Talent Council notes that current levels of mental and behavioral health professionals aren’t sufficient to meet demand, which has been growing for years, but accelerated significantly during the pandemic. The high turnover observed by the report is also likely driving up ad levels. Between June 2025 and June 2026, these occupations made up around four percent of job postings in Oregon despite only making up about one percent of jobs.

Substance Abuse Counselors Lead Online Postings Over Last Year

Between June 2025 and June 2026, there were online ads for all mental health-related occupations considered in this article, but demand was especially concentrated in a few. Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors had the most online ads over the last year with 7,190. That occupation, along with psychiatric aides (4,600 ads), and educational, guidance, and career counselors (3,420), made up around two-thirds of ad volume. Rounding out the top five were psychiatric technicians (1,740), and marriage and family therapists (1,590).

 

Demand Projected to Remain Strong Through 2034

The Oregon Employment Department projects that mental-health related occupations will continue to grow strongly over the next decade, consistent with the ever-rising need for mental health services. Almost all mental health professional occupations are projected to grow faster than the 6.4% growth for all occupations.

Psychiatric technicians are projected to grow by 28.1%, over four times the rate of all occupations. Marriage and family therapists (24.9%), substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors (23.5%), clinical and counseling psychologists (17.4%), community health workers (14.6%), mental health and substance abuse social workers (13.3%), psychiatrists (11.8%), psychiatric aides (7.9%), and social and human service assistants (7.0%) are all projected to grow faster than the all-occupations rate. Only educational, guidance, and career counselors have a lower projected growth rate of 2.7%, although the high number of replacement openings in this occupation is projected to give it among the highest number of total openings over the next decade of any mental health-related occupation.

 

Mental Health-Related Occupations Considered in This Article

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