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Oak Ridge, Tennessee has 5 accredited schools offering mental health counseling programs, with tuition ranging from $10,448 to $34,700 per year for indexed programs. Oak Ridge has a population of about 32,088. Median household income is $71,000 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 39.4% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Knoxville, TN metro area, the top-earning mental health counseling-related role is Clinical and Counseling Psychologist at a median $64,410 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer mental health counseling programs near Oak Ridge, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Oak Ridge city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
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:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Oak Ridge. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on CollegesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on CollegesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on CollegesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Tennessee schools on the Tennessee mental health counseling page.
Oak Ridge is part of the Knoxville, TN metro area (BLS area code 28940). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Tennessee statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor | $48,910 | Knoxville, TN | $52,819 |
| Marriage and Family Therapist | $42,610 | Knoxville, TN | $46,015 |
| Clinical and Counseling Psychologist | $64,410 | Knoxville, TN | $69,557 |
| Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker | $45,660 | Knoxville, TN | $49,309 |
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.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 32,088 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $71,000 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 39.4% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 92.6 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 5 accredited schools offering mental health counseling programs near Oak Ridge. The closest is Johnson University in Knoxville, TN (30.5 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga (84.9 miles). 5 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying mental health counseling-related roles near Oak Ridge are: Clinical and Counseling Psychologist ($64,410), Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor ($48,910), Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker ($45,660). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Tennessee statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Farragut, TN is 8.9 miles from Oak Ridge 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.
Oak Ridge’s median household income of $71,000 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Oak Ridge while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Tennessee public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
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.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Oak Ridge:
Data verified: August 11, 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.
Back to Best Mental Health Counseling Schools in Tennessee (2026)
