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Merced, California has 11 accredited schools offering substance abuse counseling programs, with tuition ranging from $1,180 to $12,616 per year for indexed programs. Merced has a population of about 89,766. Median household income is $59,938 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 18.0% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Merced, CA metro area, the top-earning substance abuse counseling-related role is Social and Community Service Manager at a median $76,760 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer substance abuse counseling programs near Merced, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Merced 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 Merced. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all California schools on the California substance abuse counseling page.
Merced is part of the Merced, CA metro area (BLS area code 32900). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to California statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor | $60,780 | Merced, CA | $61,831 |
| Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker | $59,500 | Merced, CA | $60,529 |
| Social and Community Service Manager | $76,760 | Merced, CA | $78,087 |
| Social and Human Service Assistant | $48,410 | Merced, CA | $49,247 |
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 | 89,766 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $59,938 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 18.0% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 98.3 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 11 accredited schools offering substance abuse counseling programs near Merced. The closest is Merced College in Merced, CA (2.0 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is InterCoast Colleges-Rancho Cordova (98.5 miles). 7 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying substance abuse counseling-related roles near Merced are: Social and Community Service Manager ($76,760), Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor ($60,780), Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker ($59,500). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with California statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Atwater, CA is 7.4 miles from Merced and has its own set of local substance abuse counseling programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Merced’s median household income of $59,938 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Merced while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and California 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 Merced:
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 Substance Abuse Counseling Schools in California (2026)
