Alabama has two accredited master's MFT programs and this page puts all of them in order, including the ones that publish nothing. Each carries a score out of 100 built from published results, from whether those results were published at all, and from the standing of its accreditation.
Every accredited master's MFT program in Alabama, ranked
All 2 of Alabama’s accredited master's MFT programs carry a score out of 100. Two publish nothing, so they forfeit the 60 points for results and cannot pass 40. That is a statement about disclosure, not about teaching.
- #1
Auburn University (MS)
Auburn, AL
21.4
program score
Campus-basedMaster'sWhere it leads in Alabama
Alabama carries less of this work per head than most states, at a median of $49,990, so it is worth asking the program where its graduates end up. The surveyed headcount behind that is small, so read it as indicative rather than firm.
What to know about it
Auburn University runs this degree from Auburn, AL. No licensure rate is published, which is true of every program on this page, so the score rests on graduation and placement alone. Next accreditation review falls in 2032. COAMFTE requires accredited programs to publish graduate achievement data, which is what makes a missing table a fact about the program rather than a gap in this page. Three completed cohorts is a thin record, so ask what the years still in progress look like.
Why it sits here Scored 21.4 of 100 on transparency and accreditation standing alone. The 60 points for published results are unearned because this program publishes none, which is a fact about its disclosure and not a measurement of its teaching.
Auburn University program page The address COAMFTE lists for its outcome data
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 0/60no completed-cohort outcomes published
- Transparency 7.5/25publishes a document with no cohort table in it
- Standing 13.9/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2032-05
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- #2
University of Alabama (MS)
Tuscaloosa, AL
20
program score
Campus-basedMaster'sWhere it leads in Alabama
This is a quieter market than most: Alabama sits in the bottom quarter of states for jobs per head, paying a median of $49,990. The surveyed headcount behind that is small, so read it as indicative rather than firm.
What to know about it
University of Alabama runs this degree from Tuscaloosa, AL. Clinical hours run through a training clinic the program runs itself, which is the difference between being placed and finding your own site. Curriculum runs to 51 credits. Ask this accredited program for the numbers it has not posted, specifically graduation and licensure across recent cohorts. A program that has them will send them, and one that hesitates has told you something. Next accreditation review falls in 2029. Three completed cohorts is a thin record, so ask what the years still in progress look like.
Why it sits here 20 of 100. The program forfeits the 60 points attached to published results by not publishing any, and keeps what transparency and standing earn it.
University of Alabama program page The address COAMFTE lists for its outcome data
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 0/60no completed-cohort outcomes published
- Transparency 7.5/25publishes a document with no cohort table in it
- Standing 12.5/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2029-05
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How is this ranking of Alabama MFT programs ordered?
This ranking of Alabama MFT programs is ordered on transparency and standing alone, because no accredited master's program in the state has published completed-cohort results and none of the scores below clears 40. Every program is marked out of 100 on the same three things: what its graduates achieved (60 points), whether it published that at the address the accreditor lists (25), and the standing of its accreditation (15).
The 60 points for results are not redistributed when a program publishes none. Sharing them out would score a silent program on standing alone, and since nearly every program is in good standing it would finish near the top, which would mean rewarding programs for telling you less.
A low score here is a statement about disclosure, not a measurement of teaching. A program that has published no graduation rate is given none, no estimate and nothing borrowed from a peer, and its card says so in those words. Publishing the data is a condition of accreditation, so what is being marked down is a requirement the program agreed to and has not met.
For the full scoring model, including what it refuses to measure, see the methodology.
What do marriage and family therapists earn in Alabama?
Marriage and family therapists in Alabama earn a median of $49,990, against $66,940 nationally, on Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for May 2025. That is $16,950 below the national figure , and 39th highest of the 45 states that publish one. The range runs from about $40,250 at the tenth percentile to $75,100 at the ninetieth.
The state employs 190 of them, which is 0.21 times the national rate per head of population. That headcount is small enough that the wage figure rests on relatively few responses, so treat it as indicative rather than firm. For how that compares with the rest of the country, see the salary page.
How do you get licensed as an MFT in Alabama?
To get licensed as an MFT in Alabama you need a qualifying master's degree, which two accredited programs in the state can supply. What comes after it, the supervised hours, the examination and whatever else the Alabama board asks for, is set by the Alabama state board and is deliberately not reproduced here: those numbers change, they differ from every neighboring state, and one repeated a year out of date could cost someone a year.
A state board treats an accredited MFT degree as settled, which is the practical argument for insisting on one and the reason this page lists only accredited master's programs. Worth weighing alongside it: Alabama carries fewer of these jobs per head than the country as a whole, at 0.21 times the national rate, so ask the programs above where their graduates actually end up.
Before choosing between accredited programs, put two questions to the Alabama state board rather than to an admissions office: the supervised-hour requirement, and whether hours earned elsewhere transfer. An admissions office will answer; the board decides.
The route is set out in order on the career page, and the methodology explains what the scores above are built from.
Where else can you study if Alabama does not have what you want?
Where else you can study matters more in Alabama than in most states: a two-program offering means most people weighing this decision are weighing somewhere else too, which is the shape of a small field rather than a failure of the state.
The nearest alternatives with accredited master's MFT programs are Florida (two), Georgia (four), Kentucky (four). 17 states have no accredited programs at this level at all, which is the gap the accredited distance programs exist to fill.
If moving is off the table, the online and hybrid master's ranking is the page to read next.
Every scored program at this level, 59 of them, sits on the national ranking.
Cities near Alabama with their own page
These sit elsewhere in the south, and each has a page covering the programs based there and what the job pays in that metropolitan area rather than statewide.
Common questions about MFT programs in Alabama
How many accredited master's MFT programs are in Alabama?
Can you get licensed as an MFT in Alabama with an online degree?
What do marriage and family therapists earn in Alabama?
Should you study in Alabama or move for a program?
Where do these figures come from?
The figures on this page come from primary records rather than from a compiled list. Accreditation is COAMFTE's, the outcome rates are each program's own, and the wages are the federal survey's.
- COAMFTE Directory of Accredited Programs Accredited programs in Alabama, their level, city and status. Read 2026-08-21.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics May 2025 release, SOC 21-1013, all Alabama postholders.
- Ranking methodology The three factors, their weights, and the eligibility floor.