2027 Most Popular Counseling Degree Programs Ranking in Texas

Pay depends on occupation, employer, experience, location, and licensure - not simply on the degree title. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a May 2025 national median annual wage of $59,350 for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors. That is a midpoint for employed workers in the occupation, not an entry-level offer or a Texas-specific estimate.

For school and career counselors and advisors, the comparable national median was $64,330 in May 2025; rehabilitation counselors had a $46,850 median (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). These are different occupational groups, so use the figure that matches your intended work. For a return-on-investment estimate, compare realistic local job offers with your current earnings, likely borrowing, time away from work, and the period of supervised practice before independent licensure.

These Texas options differ most usefully by credential target, curriculum, and where students can complete required practice. Program descriptions can change; confirm the current catalog, accreditation status, and placement rules directly before applying. The distinctions below are reasons to investigate each option, not claims that one school produces better outcomes than another.

• The University of Texas at San Antonio - clinical mental health counseling: Its named master's pathway targets clinical mental health practice rather than school certification. It is a sensible comparison for applicants who want to build a clinical placement network in the San Antonio area (UT San Antonio program information).
• University of North Texas - clinical mental health counseling: UNT offers a dedicated clinical mental health counseling pathway through its College of Education. Applicants considering North Texas placements should ask how its clinical training sequence and site approval work with their anticipated employment schedule (University of North Texas College of Education).
• Sam Houston State University - counseling MA: The graduate catalog identifies an MA in counseling, making its published degree requirements a useful starting point for checking the exact track and credential fit. This matters if you are comparing MA and MS labels: the title alone does not establish LPC eligibility (Sam Houston State University graduate catalog).
• Tarleton State University - MS in clinical mental health counseling: Its program is explicitly framed around clinical mental health counseling. Students outside a major Texas metro should investigate where approved field placements can be completed rather than assuming the classroom location determines the practice location (Tarleton State University program information).
• East Texas A&M University - MS in clinical mental health counseling: This is a distinct clinical mental health master's option for applicants comparing access in East Texas. Verify the program's current delivery and site requirements if attending campus regularly or securing a nearby supervisor would affect your ability to finish (East Texas A&M University program information).
• The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley - MEd in counseling: The MEd designation makes the precise concentration and intended credential especially important to verify. It deserves a closer look from Rio Grande Valley applicants whose goal may involve an education setting rather than assuming it has the same outcome as a clinical MS (UT Rio Grande Valley program information).
• University of Houston-Clear Lake - MS in clinical mental health counseling: Its clinical mental health focus gives Houston-area applicants a program to compare against their likely practicum and internship commute. Ask which sites are approved and how placement timing fits employed students (University of Houston-Clear Lake program information).
• The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley - MS in clinical rehabilitation counseling: Rehabilitation is the defining distinction here: students interested in disability-related counseling should compare this curriculum with general clinical mental health programs. Confirm how its coursework aligns with any specific clinical license you also intend to pursue (UT Rio Grande Valley program information).
• Texas State University - professional counseling, clinical mental health thesis MA: The catalog identifies a thesis route within clinical mental health counseling. That structure is particularly relevant to applicants considering doctoral study or a substantial research project alongside clinical preparation (Texas State University graduate catalog).
• Texas Woman's University - counseling and development: Its graduate counseling and development offerings warrant a track-by-track comparison rather than treating the department name as a single credential. Applicants should identify the specific degree and practice setting that match their goal before comparing it with dedicated clinical programs (Texas Woman's University program information).

For another perspective on program quality, compare Research.com's best counseling programs with each school's current catalog and its answers to your credential and placement questions.

A full-time counseling master's commonly takes about two to three years; part-time study generally takes longer because fieldwork follows a course sequence and depends on approved sites. Treat any advertised accelerated timeline as a schedule to verify, not a promise. Ask whether the quoted duration includes summer enrollment, practicum, internship, and the availability of required courses.

Graduation and independent practice are separate milestones. Texas LPC applicants must also satisfy the board's examination and supervised-experience requirements; school counselor certification follows a different state process (Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council; Texas Education Agency). If you need to keep a full-time job, compare when field hours occur before choosing a nominally faster program.

Online usually describes how coursework is delivered, not a fully remote path to becoming a counselor. Both formats can require live skills practice, practicum, and internship. Research.com applies the same counseling-ranking method to online and on-campus programs, but delivery format alone says little about whether a particular student can complete the placement sequence.

An online option may suit a working adult who cannot commute to campus frequently, provided the school approves accessible field sites and any required in-person sessions are manageable. A campus option may suit someone who wants regular face-to-face practice and access to nearby placement relationships. Before enrolling from another state, obtain written confirmation about the degree's fit with the licensing rules where you expect to practice; Texas requirements do not automatically transfer elsewhere (Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council).

There is no single reliable price for the counseling degrees covered here: tuition varies by institution, residency, enrollment pace, and required credit load. NCES/IPEDS reports institution-level tuition and fees, but an institution-wide figure should not be presented as the average total cost of a specific counseling master's. Request a current program-level, through-completion estimate from every school you are seriously considering (National Center for Education Statistics/IPEDS).

Compare tuition and mandatory fees alongside books, background checks, travel to field sites, potential unpaid fieldwork, and living costs. Texas public-university residency classification can materially change tuition; check the school's residency determination rather than assuming that living in Texas immediately qualifies you for resident rates. A shorter program is not necessarily cheaper if its schedule reduces your earnings or forces extra borrowing.

Research.com's most affordable counseling programs can help you develop a shortlist. Use each institution's latest fee schedule and your own aid offer to compare what you would actually pay.

Start with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and each school's graduate-aid application. Eligible graduate students may be considered for federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans; assistantships, institutional scholarships, employer tuition assistance, and externally funded awards depend on the program and applicant. Confirm current federal loan availability and terms with Federal Student Aid before planning how to cover a funding gap (Federal Student Aid).

Texas residents should also ask each public university which state or institutional graduate awards, if any, apply to their program. Aid eligibility is not the same as an affordable net price: compare renewable awards, borrowing limits, and whether funding continues during internship. The most valuable counseling programs offer a further comparison point, but your own completion risk, debt, and career goal determine value.

Texas counseling master's applicants generally need a bachelor's degree and must meet the individual university's graduate-admission standards. Programs may request transcripts, recommendations, a statement of purpose, an interview, or prerequisite coursework; requirements differ by track and school. Check the current program admissions page rather than assuming that a psychology major is mandatory or that meeting the university minimum secures a place (Texas university graduate admissions and program catalogs).

Before paying an application fee, ask which professional credential the degree is designed to support and whether its curriculum meets the relevant Texas education requirements. Also check the institution's accreditation, the program's current CACREP status if important to your plans, and any field-site eligibility or background-check requirements. Institutional accreditation, programmatic accreditation, admission, and licensure are separate questions (U.S. Department of Education; Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs; Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council).

Clinical mental health programs typically cover counseling theories, interviewing and helping skills, ethics, human development, assessment, group counseling, multicultural practice, and research or evaluation. They also include supervised practicum and internship. A course called "counseling" is not enough to establish clinical-license alignment: compare the complete curriculum and fieldwork documentation with Texas board requirements (Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council; university program catalogs).

School-focused study adds educational and student-support context, while rehabilitation-focused study places greater emphasis on disability and vocational concerns. If you may later switch settings, ask an advisor which required courses would carry over and which would not. Transfer-credit acceptance is set by the receiving institution; get a written evaluation before treating prior graduate work as time or tuition saved.

The most consequential distinction is often credential pathway rather than elective topic. Clinical mental health counseling is the direct comparison for many prospective LPC applicants; school counseling aligns with school-based student services and Texas educator certification; rehabilitation counseling concentrates on disability and related life or employment needs (Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council; Texas Education Agency; university program catalogs).

Some programs also offer focused coursework or experiences involving addiction, children and adolescents, or couples and families. Do not assume that a specialization name creates a separate license or meets another profession's requirements. Choose by the clients you want to serve and the credential employers require, then verify that the program - not merely an elective - supports that route.

Begin with your intended job and credential, then compare only programs that can plausibly get you there. Popularity can help identify options to investigate, but a mismatch on licensure, placement access, or cost matters more than a ranking position.

Use these checks when speaking with program directors and financial-aid offices:

1. Ask which Texas license or certification pathway the exact degree and track support, and request the current curriculum and fieldwork requirements.
2. Verify institutional accreditation and any claimed CACREP program accreditation for the specific program and current period.
3. Ask who finds and approves practicum and internship sites, where students typically complete them, and when field hours are scheduled.
4. Request a through-completion cost estimate for your residency and enrollment plan, then compare aid, expected debt, forgone earnings, and your probability of finishing.
5. Ask for program-level completion, exam, and placement results with their reporting periods and definitions; do not substitute institution-wide outcomes.

A low-cost public option may be attractive if its schedule and placement network work for you. A more expensive or faster option needs a credible benefit that offsets its additional cost or lost flexibility. The right investment is the one that fits your credential goal and remains workable through graduation and post-degree requirements.

Career progression depends on the pathway. A clinical mental health graduate may begin in a supervised role while completing Texas LPC requirements, then pursue positions that require independent licensure. A school counseling graduate follows educator-certification requirements for school roles. A rehabilitation counseling graduate can consider disability and vocational-service positions, while checking each employer's credential expectations (Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council; Texas Education Agency; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

For someone already employed in education or human services, a master's may be worthwhile if it opens a clearly identified role that their current credential cannot access. Someone seeking only basic helping skills, without a plan for graduate fieldwork or a regulated counseling career, may be better served by employer training or a shorter course. Do not compare the cost of a degree with a hoped-for licensed salary without accounting for the time and requirements between them.

National demand is strongest among the counseling occupations most closely associated with clinical mental health and addiction work: BLS projects 18% employment growth from 2025 to 2035 for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors. Its projection for school and career counselors and advisors is 3% over the same period (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections). These are national occupational projections, not promises of Texas vacancies or graduate placement.

Use those differences to test your preferred track, then look locally. Search Texas postings for the precise credential and supervision status employers request in the places where you can work. Compare clinical-site availability as well as vacancies: a strong job market is less useful if you cannot complete a required placement or find suitable supervision near home. Telehealth may affect where services are delivered, but it does not remove state licensure obligations (Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council).

Investing in education is a consequential decision, so Research.com evaluates counseling programs using multiple sources rather than relying on a single school-reported claim. Its counseling rankings consider graduate outcomes, licensure exam pass rates where applicable, accreditation, federal Title IV eligibility, and program cost. The team checks how each measure applies to a program so readers can use a ranking as a starting point for comparison - not as a substitute for confirming licensure fit and current prices.

The Best ranking first combines program completion (40%), employment or doctoral admission (20%), licensure exam pass rate where applicable (20%), CACREP programmatic accreditation (16%), and Title IV institutional eligibility (4%). Shares are renormalized when a criterion does not apply. Cost contributes a smaller component, about 7% of the final score. The same approach applies to online and on-campus programs; other rankings order programs by the dimension named in the ranking. Readers should not interpret "most popular" as a published enrollment count or assume it identifies the lowest-cost or strongest-licensure option.

Research.com uses the following data sources to build and check its rankings:

• IPEDS database - institutional enrollment, completions, and cost reporting.
• Peterson's database - program and institution information.
• College Scorecard database - federal institution-level cost and outcomes information.
• National Center for Education Statistics - federal education statistics and definitions.

This combination helps readers compare programs more systematically while recognizing that institution-level data may not describe a particular counseling track. For additional detail, see Research.com's ranking methodology.

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• 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/
• Counseling Compact - Participating States
  Verified professional/licensure/career reference.
  https://counselingcompact.org/
• The University of Texas at San Antonio - Master of Science (MS) in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://future.utsa.edu/programs/master/clinical-mental-health-counseling/
• University of North Texas - M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://coe.unt.edu/academics/clinical-mental-health-counseling/index.html
• Sam Houston State University - Master of Arts in Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://catalog.shsu.edu/graduate-and-professional/college-departments/education/counselor-education/counseling-ma/
• Tarleton State University - M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://programs.tarleton.edu/program/m-s-in-clinical-mental-health-counseling/
• East Texas A&M University - Counseling (MS) - Clinical Mental Health Counseling Emphasis
  Official program page (curriculum, tuition, admissions).
  https://www.etamu.edu/programs/counseling-ms-clinical-mental-health/