Social Work Jobs in Washington, DC

Official local wage data is lagged but useful: the Washington metro's broad community and social service group averaged $35.07 per hour in May 2025, and the broader SOC 21 family showed a $72,940 mean, $65,360 median, and a $50,630-to-$89,980 middle range in 2025. Current posting-based pay is directional rather than official wage measurement, and it centers on about $65k to $86k for salaried roles and about $30 to $48 / hour for hourly roles.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 918 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $72,500 at the 25th percentile, $91,770 at the median and $108,118 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

Washington is a balanced market for this field right now: metro unemployment was 3.8% in August 2026, but total metro nonfarm employment was down -1.9610% year over year. The more encouraging signal is that Education and Health Services, where many social-service and counseling jobs sit, was nearly flat at 489.2 thousand and down only -0.1836% year over year, while the local sample still showed more than 400 postings across more than 175 companies over the last 90 days. Pay is solid rather than extraordinary for this region: the metro's broad occupational family had a $65,360 annual median in 2025, while current posted salary ranges center on about $65k to $86k.

Best positioned: Licensed mid-career applicants who can show case management, crisis intervention, discharge planning, care coordination, and strong documentation in hospital or school-linked settings have the best odds.

Main caution: Do not treat this as a remote-friendly, nonprofit-only market; about 75% of postings are on-site, the visible demand leans heavily toward hospitals and health care, and less than 5% of postings that state a policy mention visa sponsorship.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 1,130 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Blackbird Health: 41 open roles
2. MedStar Health: 35 open roles
3. Transformations Care Network: 33 open roles
4. Johns Hopkins Medicine: 30 open roles
5. Inova Health System, Inc.: 29 open roles
6. Luna: 28 open roles
7. Fox Rehab: 17 open roles
8. Kolmac: 17 open roles
9. Ivy Rehab: 14 open roles
10. MySpectrum LLC: 14 open roles

Where the openings are

• Washington: 158
• Baltimore: 140
• Alexandria: 62
• Arlington: 45
• Fairfax: 41
• Annapolis: 33
• Silver Spring: 31
• Rockville: 31

Work arrangement

on-site 888 (82%), hybrid 120 (11%), remote 78 (7%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is concentrated in health-system environments. In the last 90 days, the local sample showed more than 400 postings across more than 175 companies, with hiring fragmented rather than dominated by one employer, and the industry mix leaned heavily toward hospitals and health care. The most consistently active named employers included LifeBridge Health Inc, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Inova, Kaiser Permanente International, Chapters Health System, Connections Health Solutions, and MedStar Health. A second lane is school-connected behavioral health. DC's education agency publicized an opportunity for school-based behavioral-health providers in September and followed with a School Behavioral Health 101 session scheduled for October, which is a concrete local sign that schools are still building provider capacity. A third, smaller lane is community outreach and program support tied to recent funding and fundraising around veteran suicide prevention, youth mental health, and LGBTQ+ youth housing, but those signals look more episodic than the hospital-heavy core of the market.

• Hospital and health-system case management (high): This is the largest visible lane; hospitals and health care make up most of the posting mix, and skills like discharge planning, case management, documentation, and care coordination appear repeatedly.
• School-based behavioral health (moderate): Recent DC school-system signals point to ongoing provider-capacity building for behavioral-health support in school settings.
• Community outreach and grant-backed programs (limited): There are local funding signals around veteran suicide prevention, youth outreach, and LGBTQ+ youth support, but these opportunities appear more episodic and program-specific.

Where to focus: If you have the credentials, prioritize hospital-connected case management and school behavioral-health openings first; treat smaller nonprofit outreach openings as a parallel search lane, not your only lane.

Roles worth searching next

• Patient access or referral coordinator: It uses documentation, patient advocacy, and care-coordination skills that show up repeatedly in the local market.
• Utilization review or authorizations coordinator: This is a close cousin to discharge planning and hospital coordination, which are prominent in the metro's demand mix.
• Grants and program compliance specialist: Recent local funding signals suggest some organizations need people who can support outreach programs, reporting, and administration around youth and veteran services.
• Student affairs or academic advisor: It fits candidates drawn to youth support and school settings, and local school behavioral-health activity suggests continuing need around student support systems.

What postings ask for

• Case management (table_stakes | immediate): It is the single most common skill in the local posting sample, appearing in about 50% of postings, and it travels across hospital, school, and community settings. Who: Everyone in this category, especially applicants whose resumes read as counseling-only or outreach-only.
• Crisis intervention (differentiator | immediate): It appears in about 25% of postings and helps you compete for higher-acuity behavioral-health and youth/family roles. Who: Mid-career clinicians, school-behavioral-health applicants, and anyone targeting emergency or high-need populations.
• Discharge planning (premium | immediate): It appears in about 20% of postings and aligns closely with the hospital-heavy demand mix in this metro. Who: Social workers, case managers, and career switchers aiming at health-system roles.
• Documentation and clinical documentation (table_stakes | immediate): Documentation and clinical documentation each appear in about 15% of postings, which means employers are screening for clean records, compliant notes, and smooth handoffs. Who: Entry-level applicants and switchers who need to prove operational reliability fast.
• Care coordination and interdisciplinary collaboration (differentiator | immediate): Both show up repeatedly in the local sample and matter because this market leans toward team-based health-system work rather than solo practice. Who: Applicants coming from hospitals, integrated care, community health, or school-support teams.
• LCSW-C / LCSW / LCPC / LMSW (premium | near-term): These were the licenses most often named in the local posting sample, making them the clearest shortcut past generalist screening. Who: Mid-career applicants and serious entrants who plan to stay in the region.

Questions about this market

What do Social Services, Counseling & Community roles pay in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Official local wage data is lagged but useful: the Washington metro's broad community and social service group averaged $35.07 per hour in May 2025, and the broader SOC 21 family showed a $72,940 mean, $65,360 median, and a $50,630-to-$89,980 middle range in 2025. Current posting-based pay is directional rather than official wage measurement, and it centers on about $65k to $86k for salaried roles and about $30 to $48 / hour for hourly roles. That is better than the national SOC 21 median of $58,300 and mean of $63,410, but it does not stretch as far in a metro where the home price index was up +1.7% year over year as of July 2026.

Where is demand for Social Services, Counseling & Community roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV concentrated?

Real opportunity is concentrated in health-system environments. In the last 90 days, the local sample showed more than 400 postings across more than 175 companies, with hiring fragmented rather than dominated by one employer, and the industry mix leaned heavily toward hospitals and health care. The most consistently active named employers included LifeBridge Health Inc, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Inova, Kaiser Permanente International, Chapters Health System, Connections Health Solutions, and MedStar Health. A second lane is school-connected behavioral health. DC's education agency publicized an opportunity for school-based behavioral-health providers in September and followed with a School Behavioral Health 101 session scheduled for October, which is a concrete local sign that schools are still building provider capacity. A third, smaller lane is community outreach and program support tied to recent funding and fundraising around veteran suicide prevention, youth mental health, and LGBTQ+ youth housing, but those signals look more episodic than the hospital-heavy core of the market.

Which employers are hiring the most Social Services, Counseling & Community talent in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Recent postings show the most activity from LifeBridge Health Inc (15 postings), Johns Hopkins Medicine (15 postings), Inova (10 postings), Kaiser Permanente International (10 postings), Chapters Health System (10 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Social Services, Counseling & Community roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 5% are remote and 20% hybrid, with 75% 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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