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Mental health

Peer support specialist salary

Open peer support specialist jobs post a median of $22 an hour, with the middle half paying $20–$25: about $45,800 a year full time. Measured from 175 jobs at 101 employers that state their pay, read from each employer's own job board.

$22
Median posted /hr
$20–$25
Middle half /hr
$45,800
A year, full time
estimate, 2,080 hours
$22.08
BLS median /hr
May 2025

The jobs themselves: Peer support specialist jobs

What peer support specialists are paid

Each bar counts the open jobs posting an hourly rate in its step of pay (a range at its midpoint). The middle half of employers' rates is in the darker color.

Posted hourly rates of 175 open jobs. The chart spans the 2nd to the 98th percentile; the lowest rate posted is $12.50, the highest $41.97.

Posted on open jobs

$20–$25/hr

Middle half of 137 employer rates (each employer's advertised range once), median $22. 47% of the 369 open peer support specialist jobs state an hourly rate.

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Peer support specialist pay by employer

What each employer posts for peer support specialists, the employers with the most jobs stating pay first. An employer with at least 5 such jobs has a page of its own with every range it posts.

EmployerMedian postedPosted rangeJobs stating pay
RWJBarnabas Health$25.75$21.11–$27.8810
Beth Israel Lahey Health$22.25$20–$37.459
Helio Health$21.50$17–$234
Advocates$19.25$18.50–$204
MultiCare Health System$30.25$24.83–$38.223
CCSWW$27$26.19–$27.763
CVS Health$27$18.50–$35.293
Denver Health$24.50$21–$28.113
Holon Health$23$233
AtlantiCare$22$17.89–$25.963
Nexus Family Healing$22$20–$233
BJC HealthCare$21.75$17.75–$25.563
Aware$20.75$17–$26.083
BestCare Treatment Services$20.75$18–$23.623
Volunteers Of America, Utah$20$203
RHA Health Services$19$17–$203
COMHAR$17.25$17.36–$183
Ideal Option$33.75$30–$37.252
Providence$28.50$22.44–$34.332
New Directions Youth & Family Services$27.25$19–$352
New View Alliance$27.25$19–$352
Sound Mental Health$25.75$24.78–$26.832
Rimrock Trails Treatment Services$25.50$24.62–$26.252
Samaritan Daytop Village$25$18.65–$30.222
Canvas Health$24.25$17.91–$30.372
Victory Programs$24.25$22.28–$262
UPMC$24$18.59–$30.142
Greater Nashua Mental Health$22.50$17.59–$28.122
Haymarket Center$22.50$17.05–$27.842
Bay State Community Services$22.25$21.64–$23.332
Children's Home of Wyoming Conference$22$21–$232
Range Mental Health Center$21.75$18–$25.402
AW Holdings$21.25$19–$222
Open Sky Community Services$21.25$20.33–$22.072
Voamass$20$19–$212
East House$19.75$17.25–$20.752
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rochester$19$18–$20.502
Skills of Central Pennsylvania$18.50$16–$20.902
Behavioral Health Specialists$18.25$16–$202
Brandywine Counseling & Community Services$18$182

Median of each employer's own jobs (a range at its midpoint), and the lowest and highest rate it posts. Jobs stating pay link to the employer's open jobs.

Peer support specialist pay by state

States where at least 8 open jobs from 3 employers state an hourly rate, highest median first. Each opens the state's own page, with its towns and employers.

StateMedian postedMiddle halfBLS medianJobs
Washington$29.25$26.50–$33.25$26.33 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)13
New Jersey$23$22–$24.50$23.28 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)14
Massachusetts$22.50$21.25–$25.75$22.66 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)25
Minnesota$21.75$21.50–$23.50$24.01 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)9
New York$21.25$19.75–$24$22.69 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)30
Pennsylvania$19.75$18–$20.75$21.18 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)12

Median and middle half of employers' rates in the state. BLS medians are for the occupation's main SOC code in the state (May 2025).

Peer support specialist jobs that state a yearly salary

Some jobs state a salary for the year instead of an hourly rate. They are measured on their own here, never converted.

28 open jobs from 12 employers state a yearly salary: a median of $45,700, the middle half $41,300 to $49,100, from $31,673 to $75,000 posted.

Best-paid open peer support specialist jobs

The open jobs posting the highest hourly rates tonight, at most two from one employer.

Every open job: Peer support specialist jobs

What BLS measures

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys what people employed in the occupation earn, at every level of experience. A posting advertises what a new hire is offered, so the two measure different things.

Hourly wages, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Each figure opens its BLS page.
BLS occupation10th pct25th pctMedian75th pct90th pctEmployed
Social and Human Service Assistants (21-1093)$16.44 (source: BLS OEWS, Social and Human Service Assistants, opens in a new tab)$18.34 (source: BLS OEWS, Social and Human Service Assistants, opens in a new tab)$22.08 (source: BLS OEWS, Social and Human Service Assistants, opens in a new tab)$26.13 (source: BLS OEWS, Social and Human Service Assistants, opens in a new tab)$30.43 (source: BLS OEWS, Social and Human Service Assistants, opens in a new tab)437,860 (source: BLS OEWS, Social and Human Service Assistants, opens in a new tab)

The posted median ($22) is $0.08 below the BLS median ($22.08 (source: BLS OEWS May 2025, Social and Human Service Assistants, opens in a new tab)). Posted ranges run from a new hire's rate to an experienced one's, and their midpoint is counted here.

Peer support specialist salary: common questions

How much does a peer support specialist make an hour?

Open peer support specialist jobs on CareJobs.Now that state an hourly rate post a median of $22, with the middle half between $20–$25 (175 jobs from 101 employers, each employer's advertised range counted once). Postings advertise a base rate, usually before shift differentials and bonuses. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics measured a median of $22.08/hr ($45,930 a year) for social and human service assistants in May 2025.

How much does a peer support specialist make a year?

At the posted median of $22 an hour, full time (2,080 hours a year) comes to about $45,800, and the middle half to $41,600 to $52,000. That is arithmetic on the hourly rate, not a salary any job states. 28 open jobs state a yearly salary instead, a median of $45,700.

Which states pay peer support specialists the most?

By the median hourly rate open jobs post: Washington ($29.25), New Jersey ($23) and Massachusetts ($22.50). The lowest: Pennsylvania ($19.75), New York ($21.25) and Minnesota ($21.75). Each state's page breaks its pay down by town and employer.

Where do these figures come from?

From the pay CareJobs.Now's open jobs state, read every night from each employer's own job board: 175 of 369 open peer support specialist jobs (47%) state an hourly rate. No pay is estimated for a job that states none, "up to" ceilings and weekly travel rates are left out, and each employer's advertised range counts once in the median, so no single employer sets it.

More pay by job: Mental health

Peer support specialist jobs →Every healthcare salary →Pay explorer →

Sources and method

Only pay a job states is used: a plain hourly or yearly figure or range in US dollars, read from the job's own posting. A range counts at its midpoint. In the median and the middle half each employer's advertised range counts once, so an employer posting one range in many towns does not set the figure; an employer's own figures count its jobs one by one. "Up to" ceilings, weekly travel rates and rates under a third or over three times the occupation's median are left out. The yearly estimate is the hourly rate times 2,080 hours (40 a week). A job counts under its occupation and every occupation above it, and under every state it is open in. A page exists while at least 8 jobs from 3 employers state a rate. BLS figures are as published.
  1. CareJobs.Now job board: the pay open jobs state, read nightly from each employer's own careers site, published October 24, 2026
  2. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Social and Human Service Assistants (SOC 21-1093), published May 15, 2026
  3. BLS OEWS May 2025: Social and Human Service Assistants by state, published May 15, 2026
  4. BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035: Social and Human Service Assistants (Occupational Outlook Handbook), published August 27, 2026

Cite this page

CareJobs.Now. (2026). Peer support specialist salary. Data as of October 24, 2026. https://carejobs.now/salaries/peer-support-specialist

How the board counts