Which pays more, Medical Assistant or Therapist / Counselor?

The median advertised salary for each is in the table above, along with the 25th and 75th percentiles so you can see the spread rather than one number.

Which has more openings?

Both counts are live and computed at the same moment, so the comparison is like for like.

Postings are read from company career systems continuously; the age row shows how old the listings themselves are.

Side by side

Medical Assistant vs Therapist / Counselor

Therapist / Counselor pays more: a median of $94,000 against $65,000. Demand is comparable on both sides. Listings for Medical Assistant move faster — median age 44 days against 85.

Comparison

Side by side

Measure	Medical Assistant	Therapist / Counselor	Gap
Open postings	20,282	14,899	+5,383
Posted this week	830	424
Median salary	$65,000	$94,000	$-29k
25th percentile	$51.5k	$74.5k
75th percentile	$80.5k	$117k
Salary disclosed	3.8%	4.1%
Remote share	3.1%	3.4%	-0.3pp
Median age of posting	44d	85d
Open over 60 days	32.1%	33.8%
Visa sponsorship	12.8%	7.8%

Pay

Pay distribution

Medical Assistant

$29k$112k

Therapist / Counselor

$42k$163k

Freshness

How old the listings are

Medical Assistant

just posted44d median90d+

Therapist / Counselor

just posted85d median90d+

Demand

What each side asks for

Medical Assistant — technologies

Kubernetes

72.0%

Node.js

65.8%

GCP

59.6%

dbt

53.4%

Tableau

47.2%

JavaScript

41.0%

Spark

34.8%

Therapist / Counselor — technologies

PostgreSQL

72.0%

TypeScript

65.8%

Terraform

59.6%

Kubernetes

53.4%

Spark

47.2%

Azure

41.0%

JavaScript

34.8%

Medical Assistant — employers

Vantage Logistics

9.4%

Northwind Systems

8.7%

Solstice Biotech

8.0%

Quarry Analytics

7.2%

Pinewood Education

6.5%

Meridian Software

5.8%

Cobalt Financial

5.1%

Therapist / Counselor — employers

Aperture Labs

9.4%

Brightline Retail

8.7%

Meridian Software

8.0%

Fairmount Legal

7.2%

Beacon Robotics

6.5%

Ironbark Manufacturing

5.8%

Cobalt Financial

5.1%

More comparisons

Other Healthcare comparisons

Care Assistant vs Dental Hygienist Care Assistant vs Medical Assistant Care Assistant vs Nurse Practitioner Care Assistant vs Pharmacist Care Assistant vs Pharmacy Intern Care Assistant vs Pharmacy Technician Care Assistant vs Physical Therapist Care Assistant vs Physician Care Assistant vs Registered Nurse Care Assistant vs Therapist / Counselor Dental Hygienist vs Medical Assistant Dental Hygienist vs Nurse Practitioner Dental Hygienist vs Pharmacist Dental Hygienist vs Pharmacy Intern Dental Hygienist vs Pharmacy Technician Dental Hygienist vs Physical Therapist Dental Hygienist vs Physician Dental Hygienist vs Registered Nurse Dental Hygienist vs Therapist / Counselor Medical Assistant vs Nurse Practitioner Medical Assistant vs Pharmacist Medical Assistant vs Pharmacy Intern Medical Assistant vs Pharmacy Technician Medical Assistant vs Physical Therapist Medical Assistant vs Physician Medical Assistant vs Registered Nurse Nurse Practitioner vs Pharmacist Nurse Practitioner vs Pharmacy Intern Nurse Practitioner vs Pharmacy Technician Nurse Practitioner vs Physical Therapist Nurse Practitioner vs Physician Nurse Practitioner vs Registered Nurse Nurse Practitioner vs Therapist / Counselor Pharmacist vs Pharmacy Intern Pharmacist vs Pharmacy Technician Pharmacist vs Physical Therapist Pharmacist vs Physician Pharmacist vs Registered Nurse Pharmacist vs Therapist / Counselor Pharmacy Intern vs Pharmacy Technician Pharmacy Intern vs Physical Therapist Pharmacy Intern vs Physician Pharmacy Intern vs Registered Nurse Pharmacy Intern vs Therapist / Counselor Pharmacy Technician vs Physical Therapist Pharmacy Technician vs Physician Pharmacy Technician vs Registered Nurse Pharmacy Technician vs Therapist / Counselor Physical Therapist vs Physician Physical Therapist vs Registered Nurse Physical Therapist vs Therapist / Counselor Physician vs Registered Nurse Physician vs Therapist / Counselor Registered Nurse vs Therapist / Counselor

Both sides are counted the same way on the same day, so the gap is comparable even where the absolute numbers move. Salary figures use only postings that publish a range — the disclosure rate is in the table because a median over 20% of a cohort is a weaker number than one over 70%.