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Best Mental Health Counseling Schools Near Birmingham, AL
Updated September 6, 2026BLS dataCollege ScorecardOn this page
Birmingham, Alabama has 4 accredited schools offering mental health counseling programs, with tuition ranging from $7,590 to $37,626 per year for indexed programs. Birmingham has a population of about 196,357. In Alabama, the top-earning mental health counseling-related role is Clinical and Counseling Psychologist at a median $90,800 annually (BLS, May 2025).
Closest Mental Health Counseling Schools to Birmingham
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer mental health counseling programs near Birmingham, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Birmingham city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
How We Rank Schools
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most
recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS).
To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the
U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked
against schools at the same credential level:
BOCSCORE
Graduation rate 30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry 25%
Average net price (lower is better) 20%
Retention rate 15%
Fully online availability 10%
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score.
On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Birmingham.
Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
BOC
Ranked by BOC Score — U.S. Dept. of Education outcome data. Advertising never affects rankings.
Birmingham is part of the Birmingham, AL metro area (BLS area code 13820). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Alabama statewide.
Occupation
Median Wage
Source
COL-Adjusted (US=100)
Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor
$53,990
Birmingham, AL
$58,941
Marriage and Family Therapist
$60,690
Birmingham, AL
$66,255
Clinical and Counseling Psychologist
$90,800
AL statewide
$99,127
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker
$38,140
Birmingham, AL
$41,638
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
Birmingham at a Glance
Metric
Value
Source
Regional Price Parity (US=100)
91.6 (below U.S. average)
BEA RPP 2024
Other Birmingham-Area Cities With Mental Health Counseling Programs
How many accredited mental health counseling schools are near Birmingham, AL?
Our directory has 4 accredited schools offering mental health counseling programs near Birmingham. The closest is University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, AL (1.5 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Amridge University (88.3 miles). 4 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
What are the highest-paying mental health counseling roles near Birmingham?
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying mental health counseling-related roles near Birmingham are: Clinical and Counseling Psychologist ($90,800), Marriage and Family Therapist ($60,690), Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor ($53,990). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Alabama statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Should I look at programs in Mountain Brook instead of Birmingham?
Mountain Brook, AL is 4.3 miles from Birmingham and has its own set of local mental health counseling programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
How do I verify a program is accredited?
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Learn More About Mental Health Counseling Programs
Data verified: September 6, 2026.
Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
