2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Florida

There is no single "counseling doctorate salary." Pay follows the occupation, employer, location, and experience more closely than the degree title. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a May 2025 national median annual wage of $59,350 for the clinical mental health counseling occupational group. That is a benchmark for the work, not an estimate of what Florida doctorate holders earn or a promised return on tuition.

If you intend to move from clinical practice into a faculty role, compare actual faculty openings and compensation with your current earnings. Account for years spent studying, lost work time, aid, debt, and the likelihood of completing the degree before treating a potential salary increase as a financial benefit.

Florida programs can differ substantially in how they frame doctoral training. These distinctions are more useful than assuming that programs with similar degree titles offer interchangeable preparation.

• University of Florida: UF places counseling and counselor education in its graduate catalog within the Department of Human Development and Organizational Studies in Education. That academic home is worth examining if you want to connect counseling research with broader education or human-development questions; ask the department which faculty can supervise your proposed dissertation topic. Source: University of Florida Graduate Catalog.
• Florida Atlantic University: FAU identifies its offering specifically as a PhD in Counselor Education. Its explicit counselor-educator orientation makes it a particularly relevant comparison for applicants targeting counselor-training, supervision, or scholarship; confirm current doctoral requirements and faculty research fit before applying. Source: Florida Atlantic University Graduate Programs.

Neither description substitutes for a current comparison of funding, completion expectations, required in-person work, and student outcomes. For a broader shortlist, review the best counseling programs alongside each institution's current catalog.

Plan on roughly three to five years of full-time study after a relevant master's degree as a planning range, not a promise for either Florida program. Dissertation progress, prerequisite coursework, supervision commitments, and part-time enrollment can extend the timeline. Ask each program for its published time-to-degree rules and recent completion information rather than relying on the minimum course sequence alone.

For a working counselor, the faster-looking option is not always less costly: compare tuition with earnings you would give up, the availability of assistantships, and whether the proposed schedule leaves enough time for research and clinical obligations.

Online study can reduce relocation and commuting costs, while campus study may simplify regular access to faculty, research groups, and local supervision sites. Neither format eliminates dissertation work or automatically satisfies fieldwork and licensure requirements.

Before choosing an online doctorate, confirm where any residency, practicum, internship, and supervised activities occur. If you plan to seek Florida licensure - or practice after moving to another state - request a written explanation of how the program addresses the relevant jurisdiction's education requirements. Institutional authorization to enroll students is not the same as professional license eligibility.

A reliable Florida-wide average for counseling doctorate total program cost is not available from a single comparable published measure. Annual institutional tuition figures can conceal differences in dissertation semesters, fees, enrollment status, and funding. Public-university residency classification can also change the price materially, so obtain the rate that applies to you rather than assuming the advertised in-state rate.

Build a program estimate using required credits or semesters, tuition, mandatory fees, travel and placement expenses, and expected years to completion; then subtract funding that is confirmed in writing. Compare that net estimate with the most affordable counseling programs, but do not choose solely by the lowest advertised tuition.

Start with departmental assistantships, tuition waivers, fellowships, employer tuition support, and federal aid eligibility. Ask whether an assistantship covers summer or dissertation enrollment and whether its work duties would delay completion. Florida residency rules and each institution's funding terms can affect what you actually pay.

Federal borrowing rules have changed for graduate study beginning in 2026. Graduate PLUS is generally unavailable to new graduate borrowers under the new rules, while qualifying continuing borrowers may have transitional eligibility tied to their existing program and borrowing history. Verify your individual status and current Direct Unsubsidized Loan limits with Federal Student Aid and the school's aid office before treating loans as a funding plan. Source: Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education.

Expect programs to evaluate a relevant graduate degree, academic record, research interests, professional experience, recommendations, and a statement of purpose. Requirements differ: a counseling master's degree, prior clinical training, or eligibility for professional credentials may matter more for one doctoral track than another. Check each program's current admissions page for prerequisites and application materials.

If your master's degree is in another field, ask which courses or supervised experiences you would need before admission or graduation. Also ask whether previous graduate credits can transfer and, if so, whether they reduce tuition, required coursework, or both. Never assume transferred credits shorten the dissertation stage.

Doctoral counselor-education curricula commonly cover advanced counseling theory, research design, quantitative or qualitative methods, counselor supervision, teaching, leadership, and ethics, followed by dissertation work. Specific clinical or school-focused coursework depends on the program; a doctoral supervision course, for example, should not be mistaken for all the supervised experience a state license requires.

Read the sequence as well as the course titles. Ask when research methods begin, how dissertation advisers are assigned, and whether required courses run often enough to support your intended full-time or part-time schedule.

Possible research or practice interests include clinical mental health, addiction, school counseling, marriage and family work, and rehabilitation. Availability varies by institution, and a faculty member's research area is not necessarily a formal concentration or a licensure track.

Choose backward from the work you want to do. Prospective faculty should look for dissertation supervision and teaching opportunities in their topic; prospective clinicians should first establish which master's education and supervised experience their intended Florida license requires. Source: Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling.

The best fit is the program that supports your specific career goal at a manageable total cost - not necessarily the most popular or least expensive option. Use the most valuable counseling programs as another comparison point, then test your shortlist against questions that rankings cannot settle for you.

• Ask which careers recent doctoral completers pursued and whether the program publishes comparable completion and employment information.
• Confirm current institutional and, where relevant, programmatic accreditation directly with the accreditor; ask how the curriculum relates to the credential you intend to seek.
• Request a written estimate of tuition, fees, funding, required travel, and typical time to completion for your enrollment plan.
• Speak with potential advisers about research fit, supervision availability, dissertation expectations, and any limits on transferred credits.

A common mistake is treating a doctorate, a professional license, and accreditation as interchangeable assurances. Verify each separately with the program, recognized accreditor, and appropriate Florida authority before committing.

A doctorate can support applications for counselor-education faculty roles, research positions, clinical supervision, program administration, and advanced roles within behavioral health organizations. Some positions require an active professional license; faculty positions may prioritize publications, teaching, and a dissertation aligned with the department's needs.

If you already practice as a counselor, identify the specific promotion or position you want before enrolling. If you do not yet hold the credential needed for independent practice, a qualifying master's degree and licensure pathway may offer a more direct entry into clinical work than a doctorate.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 18% national employment growth for the clinical mental health counseling occupational group from 2025 to 2035. That outlook can matter if you plan to continue clinical work, but it does not measure demand for Florida counselor-education faculty or guarantee a doctoral-level opening. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections.

Evaluate the market for your intended job title, not counseling as a whole. Compare Florida postings for required license status, teaching experience, research record, and work location; then ask programs how their graduates built those qualifications. A doctorate is most defensible when its training addresses requirements your current credentials cannot meet.

Investing in a doctorate is a consequential decision. Research.com evaluates counseling programs using graduate outcomes, applicable licensure-exam results, accreditation and eligibility measures, and cost; the ranking named "Most Popular" orders programs by its popularity dimension rather than claiming that popularity alone measures quality or value. The team uses the following sources to support credible, consistent comparisons:

• IPEDS database - institutional enrollment, completions, and other reported education data.
• Peterson's database - program and institutional information.
• College Scorecard database - federal institutional information and outcomes where available.
• National Center for Education Statistics - federal education data and context.

For the companion Best ranking, the graduate-outcomes-and-accreditation score weights completion at 40%, employment or doctoral admission at 20%, applicable licensure-exam pass rates at 20%, CACREP programmatic accreditation at 16%, and institutional Title IV eligibility at 4%. Inapplicable criteria are reweighted, and cost contributes about 7% of the final score. The same approach applies to online and campus programs. These measures help narrow a shortlist, but readers should verify current program details directly; Research.com's methodology explains the ranking approach further.

• 2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Georgia
• 2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Mississippi
• 2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Tennessee
• 2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in North Carolina
• 2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Virginia
• 2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Ohio
• 2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Illinois
• 2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Pennsylvania
• 2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Texas
• 2027 Most Popular Doctorate in Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in New Jersey

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Counselors
  Used to verify salary, employment outlook, and typical education requirements.
  https://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/
• CACREP - Directory of Accredited Programs
  Used to verify CACREP accreditation status of specific programs.
  https://www.cacrep.org/directory/
• O*NET OnLine - Mental Health Counselors (21-1014)
  Verified professional/licensure/career reference.
  https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/21-1014.00
• University of Florida - Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling and Counselor Education
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://gradcatalog.ufl.edu/graduate/colleges-departments/education/human-development-organizational-studies/counseling-counselor/
• Florida Atlantic University - Ph.D. in Counselor Education
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.fau.edu/graduate/graduate-programs/phd-counselor-education/