Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $61K, rent takes 26.6% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,064/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors typically earn — is $44K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,667/month. At HUD’s $1,064/month FMR, rent would take 40% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $61K locally vs. $59K nationally, a 3% difference.

Iowa pays $61K median vs. the U.S. average of $59K — that’s +3%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 88.86), the purchasing-power equivalent is $69K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $60,880 a year, that works out to about $29 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $44,450, and experienced substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors can clear $102,890. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,993/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,064/month, which eats 26.6% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Iowa has a Regional Price Parity of 88.86 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors salary is worth about $68,512 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.