Social Work Jobs in Seattle, WA

Government wage data for the broader local community and social service occupation family shows a $72,180 median and $75,420 mean in 2025, with the 25th percentile at $57,430 and the 75th percentile at $90,620. Current posted salary ranges are higher, centered on about $90k to $115k, or about $37 to $48 / hour, so recent openings appear skewed toward licensed, hospital-linked, or specialized roles rather than the full field.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 404 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $78,282 at the 25th percentile, $99,840 at the median and $116,480 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of November 10, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 250+ openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Balanced market | next 3-6 months

This is a balanced market overall, but it tilts favorable for licensed and mid-career applicants. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue's unemployment rate was 4.8% in August 2026, metro Education and Health Services employment grew 3.2037% year over year, and Revelio Public Labor Statistics shows Washington social services, counseling & community postings up 3.1% year over year with employment up 0.9% year over year in September. The local sample also shows more than 200 postings across more than 75 companies, but about 75% of openings are mid-level, about 85% are on-site, and master's degrees appear more often than bachelor's degrees. That makes the market workable if you already meet the common license, experience, and in-person-work bar, and notably harder if you need entry-level flexibility, remote work, or visa sponsorship.

Best positioned: The strongest profile right now is a licensed or license-eligible candidate who can work on-site in healthcare or behavioral-health settings and show case management, crisis intervention, and documentation depth.

Main caution: The biggest trap is assuming the market is broadly easy because posted pay looks high; much of the current opportunity is concentrated in licensed, mid-career, on-site roles rather than generalist entry roles.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 442 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. DESC: 30 open roles
2. Transformations Care Network: 15 open roles
3. UW Medicine: 12 open roles
4. ATI Physical Therapy, Inc.: 10 open roles
5. LifeStance Health Inc.: 10 open roles
6. Providence Health & Services, Inc.: 9 open roles
7. University of Washington: 9 open roles
8. AgeRight Therapy: 8 open roles
9. Life Care Centers of America: 8 open roles
10. Mindful Therapy Group: 8 open roles

Where the openings are

• Seattle: 168
• Bellevue: 29
• Federal Way: 22
• Kirkland: 18
• Burien: 17
• Redmond: 16
• Kent: 14
• Silverdale: 12

Work arrangement

on-site 373 (88%), hybrid 39 (9%), remote 12 (3%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is clustered in care-delivery settings more than in generalist nonprofit hiring. In the local posting mix, healthcare accounts for about 35% of openings, hospitals and health care about 30%, mental health care about 10%, and nonprofit organizations about 10%. The employer list reflects that skew: LifeStance Health Inc., SSWR, incorporated, AOSW, DESC, Seattle YMCA, MultiCare Health System, Inc., and Connections Health Solutions all appear among the more active local hirers, but hiring is fragmented rather than dominated by one system. That means the best odds sit where case management and coordination are inseparable from service delivery. The most requested hard skills are case management, crisis intervention, clinical documentation, psychosocial assessment, care planning, discharge planning, and patient advocacy. A second cluster is emerging around housing-connected care: Seattle's shelter expansion plan adds 960 beds through 2027 and specifically calls for case management, housing navigation, behavioral-health, and substance-use services. One area to approach more carefully is school-linked mental-health work. Washington's attorney general says about $20 million in grants for K-12 student mental-health services has faced repeated federal termination attempts, which creates funding risk even if need remains high.

• Hospital and health-system social work (high): Best fit for applicants with discharge planning, care planning, psychosocial assessment, and patient advocacy strength. The local demand mix is heavily healthcare-centered.
• Behavioral-health counseling and crisis work (high): A strong target for LMHC, LMFT, LICSW, and related candidates, especially with crisis intervention and documentation depth.
• Housing, shelter, and nonprofit case management (moderate): Good opportunity set for candidates with outreach, navigation, and complex-needs experience, especially as Seattle expands shelter capacity with integrated support services.
• School-linked mental-health services (limited): Need is real, but the funding backdrop is less predictable because approximately $20 million in Washington student mental-health grants has been under threat.

Where to focus: If you can meet licensure or experience thresholds, focus first on hospital-linked case management or community behavioral-health roles where crisis, documentation, and care-planning skills are used every day.

Roles worth searching next

• Behavioral Health Technician: It keeps you close to crisis work, client observation, and behavioral-health settings without requiring the same level of independent practice as licensed counseling roles.
• Patient Care Coordinator / Care Navigator: This uses case management, discharge planning, documentation, and patient advocacy skills that are already central in this market.
• Intake Coordinator / Referral Coordinator: It is a practical path for candidates who can handle documentation, triage, scheduling, and client handoffs but are not yet competitive for full counseling roles.
• Utilization Review / Care Management Associate: It sits near healthcare social work and care planning while leaning more toward payer, compliance, and documentation work.
• Program Operations Coordinator in health or housing nonprofits: It stays close to community impact work while using coordination, reporting, and service-delivery knowledge instead of direct counseling scope.

What postings ask for

• LMHC (premium | immediate): LMHC appears among the most commonly requested credentials in the local posting sample, which makes it a direct screening advantage for counseling-heavy roles. Who: Counselors and master's-level applicants who want the strongest access to behavioral-health openings.
• LICSW (premium | immediate): LICSW shows up in local credential requirements and aligns especially well with healthcare, hospital, and complex case-management settings. Who: Experienced social workers targeting hospitals, care coordination, or higher-paid specialized roles.
• LMFT (differentiator | near-term): LMFT is one of the credentials cited in local postings, so it expands access to counseling and family-focused openings. Who: Candidates with family-systems training who want to stay close to counseling work rather than broader case-management tracks.
• Agency Affiliated Counselor (table_stakes | immediate): Agency Affiliated Counselor appears in local requirements and can help early-career candidates become employable before full licensure. Who: Entry-level and supervised-practice candidates trying to cross the first screening barrier.
• Case management and care planning (table_stakes | immediate): Case management is the most requested hard skill in the local sample, and care planning is also repeatedly cited. Who: Everyone in this category, especially entry-level, hospital, shelter, and community-service applicants.
• Crisis intervention and psychosocial assessment (differentiator | immediate): Crisis intervention is heavily requested locally, and psychosocial assessment appears regularly in postings, making this a practical separator from more general helping-profession applicants. Who: Mid-career clinicians, social workers, emergency-response candidates, and anyone targeting behavioral-health settings.

Questions about this market

What do Social Services, Counseling & Community roles pay in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA?

Government wage data for the broader local community and social service occupation family shows a $72,180 median and $75,420 mean in 2025, with the 25th percentile at $57,430 and the 75th percentile at $90,620. Current posted salary ranges are higher, centered on about $90k to $115k, or about $37 to $48 / hour, so recent openings appear skewed toward licensed, hospital-linked, or specialized roles rather than the full field. Seattle pays above national averages for this broad field: the community and social service group averaged $36.26 per hour locally versus $30.49 nationally in May 2025. But the same local group still trailed the Seattle metro mean across all occupations of $44.13 per hour.

Where is demand for Social Services, Counseling & Community roles in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA concentrated?

Real opportunity is clustered in care-delivery settings more than in generalist nonprofit hiring. In the local posting mix, healthcare accounts for about 35% of openings, hospitals and health care about 30%, mental health care about 10%, and nonprofit organizations about 10%. The employer list reflects that skew: LifeStance Health Inc., SSWR, incorporated, AOSW, DESC, Seattle YMCA, MultiCare Health System, Inc., and Connections Health Solutions all appear among the more active local hirers, but hiring is fragmented rather than dominated by one system. That means the best odds sit where case management and coordination are inseparable from service delivery. The most requested hard skills are case management, crisis intervention, clinical documentation, psychosocial assessment, care planning, discharge planning, and patient advocacy. A second cluster is emerging around housing-connected care: Seattle's shelter expansion plan adds 960 beds through 2027 and specifically calls for case management, housing navigation, behavioral-health, and substance-use services. One area to approach more carefully is school-linked mental-health work. Washington's attorney general says about $20 million in grants for K-12 student mental-health services has faced repeated federal termination attempts, which creates funding risk even if need remains high.

Which employers are hiring the most Social Services, Counseling & Community talent in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA?

Recent postings show the most activity from LifeStance Health Inc. (15 postings), SSWR, incorporated (10 postings), AOSW (10 postings), DESC (10 postings), Seattle YMCA (5 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Social Services, Counseling & Community roles in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 5% are remote and 10% hybrid, with 85% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

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