5 accredited MFT programs sit in Illinois at master's level, and every one of them is ranked below. All of them are scored on one scale, so the programs that publish nothing sit in the same order as the ones that do rather than in a list of their own.
Every accredited master's MFT program in Illinois, ranked
All 5 of Illinois’s accredited master's MFT programs carry a score out of 100. One has a full published record behind its outcomes component. Two have published one or two cohorts, too few to take at face value, so their result is pulled toward the field median first. 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
Northwestern University, The Family Institute (MS)
Evanston, IL
94.9
program score
Campus-basedMaster's9 scored cohortsWhat Northwestern University, The Family Institute publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time98.8%typical is 81.4%
- Working in the field91.9%typical is 92.9%
- Reached licensure89.8%typical is 92.9%
From 9 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
Where it leads in Illinois
Marriage and family therapists in Illinois earn a median of $60,970, on a concentration of work close to the typical state's. Ten per cent earn under $51,420 and ten per cent over $104,900, a spread driven more by whether you are salaried or in practice than by years served.
What to know about it
The program runs this degree from Evanston, IL. Taking the last cohort with complete figures, its 2023-2024 intake: 100% finished on time, 90% found relevant work, 90% reached licensure. Graduates reaching a license has risen over the window, 85.2% to 95%. Five of the programs ranked here are in Illinois, and this is one of them. Clinical hours run through a training clinic the program runs itself, which is the difference between being placed and finding your own site. Next accreditation review falls in 2032. Six or more completed cohorts is enough history to trust the pattern rather than the latest year.
Why it sits here Scored 94.9 of 100. Its published 94.6 rests on 9 completed cohorts, too few to take at face value, so it is pulled toward the 89.5 field median before being weighted.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2024-2025 – in process in process in process 2023-2024 – 100% 90% 90% 2022-2023 – 100% 93.3% 93.3% 2021-2022 – 100% 96.6% 96.6% 2020-2021 – 96.8% 100% 100% 2019-2020 – 92.6% 92% 88% Northwestern University, The Family Institute program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 56/6094.6 over 9 cohorts, adjusted to 93.3 for the thin record
- Transparency 25/25publishes 9 completed cohorts at the address COAMFTE lists
- Standing 13.9/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2032-05
- #2
Northern Illinois University (MS)
DeKalb, IL
91.7
program score
Campus-basedMaster's9 scored cohortsWhat Northern Illinois University publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time81.4%typical is 81.4%
- Working in the field98.7%typical is 92.9%
- Reached licensure94.1%typical is 92.9%
From 9 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
Where it leads in Illinois
Illinois pays a median of $60,970 for this license, and carries about as much of the work per head as the middle of the country does. The range behind that runs from about $51,420 to $104,900, and where you land in it is mostly a question of setting rather than of seniority.
What to know about it
The record here rests on cohorts of about 12 students. Finishing is the hard part here rather than getting hired: 81.4% graduate on time, and 98.7% of those who do find relevant work. Illinois carries five accredited master's programs, so a shortlist here can afford to be selective in a way it cannot in most states. Worth asking early about the assistantships and tuition remission it advertises, rather than waiting for an offer. Curriculum runs to 54 credits. Disclosure runs deeper than most, 9 cohorts complete out of 10 published. Six or more completed cohorts is enough history to trust the pattern rather than the latest year.
Why it sits here Scored 91.7 of 100, with 54 of 60 from a record covering 9 completed cohorts and 111 students.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2025-2026 15 – – – 2024-2025 11 91% – – 2023-2024 11 91% 90% 91% 2022-2023 12 83% 100% 100% 2021-2022 9 67% 100% 100% 2020-2021 10 80% 100% 90% Northern Illinois University program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 54/6090 across 9 completed cohorts
- Transparency 25/25publishes 9 completed cohorts at the address COAMFTE lists
- Standing 12.7/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2029-11
111 students admitted since 2015
- #3
Northwestern University, The Family Institute (MS)
Evanston, IL
90.9
program score
OnlineMaster's3 scored cohortsWhat Northwestern University, The Family Institute publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time72.6%typical is 81.4%
- Working in the field92.9%typical is 92.9%
- Reached licensure92.9%typical is 92.9%
From 3 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
Where it leads in Illinois
Once licensed, the median for the occupation in Illinois is $60,970, in a market about as dense as most states'. The range behind that runs from about $51,420 to $104,900, and where you land in it is mostly a question of setting rather than of seniority.
What to know about it
The program runs this degree from Evanston, IL, fully online. Finishing is the hard part here rather than getting hired: 72.6% graduate on time, and 92.9% of those who do find relevant work. Five of the programs ranked here are in Illinois, and this is one of them. Illinois carries fewer of these jobs per head than the country as a whole, so ask this program where its graduates actually end up working. A part-time route exists, so the advertised length is not the only timetable. Applicants are told the GRE is not required. Budget for travel regardless of format, because it requires on-campus residencies. Three completed cohorts is a thin record, so ask what the years still in progress look like.
Why it sits here Scored 90.9 of 100. Its published 83.8 rests on 3 completed cohorts, too few to take at face value, so it is pulled toward the 89.5 field median before being weighted.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2024-2025 – in process in process in process 2023-2024 – 50% 91.3% 91.3% 2022-2023 – 56.4% 86.6% 86.6% 2021-2022 – 100% 100% 100% Northwestern University, The Family Institute program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 52/6083.8 over 3 cohorts, adjusted to 86.6 for the thin record
- Transparency 25/25publishes 3 completed cohorts at the address COAMFTE lists
- Standing 13.9/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2032-05
- #4
Adler University (MA)
Chicago, IL
19.5
program score
Campus-basedMaster'sWhere it leads in Illinois
Marriage and family therapists in Illinois earn a median of $60,970, on a concentration of work close to the typical state's. The range behind that runs from about $51,420 to $104,900, and where you land in it is mostly a question of setting rather than of seniority.
What to know about it
Adler University runs this degree from Chicago, IL. Five of the programs ranked here are in Illinois, and this is one of them. Coursework named on its own page covers Bowen family systems, cognitive behavioral therapy and play therapy. With no published outcomes to read, the questions to put to this accredited program directly are its graduation rate for the last three cohorts, how many of those graduates are licensed, and why the figures are not on its site. Studying here means being in Chicago, which is worth pricing before it is worth comparing. Teaching is scheduled in the evenings, which matters if you are keeping a job. Concentrations run to substance use and addiction and sex and intimacy. Three completed cohorts is a thin record, so ask what the years still in progress look like.
Why it sits here A score of 19.5 out of 100 with the outcomes component empty. Read it as the ceiling for a program that has not disclosed, not as a verdict on how it teaches.
Adler 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 12/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2028-05
-
- #5
Wheaton College Graduate School (MA)
Wheaton, IL
15
program score
Campus-basedMaster'sWhere it leads in Illinois
Illinois pays a median of $60,970 for this license, and carries about as much of the work per head as the middle of the country does. Ten per cent earn under $51,420 and ten per cent over $104,900, a spread driven more by whether you are salaried or in practice than by years served.
What to know about it
Wheaton College Graduate School runs this degree from Wheaton, IL. Five of the programs ranked here are in Illinois, and this is one of them. Clinical hours run through a training clinic the program runs itself, which is the difference between being placed and finding your own site. Illinois employs 860 marriage and family therapists at a median of $60,970, which is the market a graduate of this program enters first. Coursework named on its own page covers cognitive behavioral therapy. 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. The disclosure is not optional under COAMFTE accreditation, so read the gap as something to raise with the program, not as something unremarkable. Three completed cohorts is a thin record, so ask what the years still in progress look like.
Why it sits here 15 of 100. The program forfeits the 60 points attached to published results by not publishing any, and keeps what transparency and standing earn it.
Wheaton College Graduate School program page The address COAMFTE lists for its outcome data
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 0/60no completed-cohort outcomes published
- Transparency 2.5/25has a disclosure link that does not resolve
- Standing 12.5/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2029-05
-
How is this ranking of Illinois MFT programs ordered?
This ranking of Illinois MFT programs is ordered mostly by disclosure. Of the five accredited master's programs in the state, three report outcomes and two do not, and the gap in the scores below is chiefly that difference rather than a difference in teaching. Three components make up the 100: results carry 60, publishing them at all carries 25, and the accreditor's own verdict on the program carries 15.
Nothing is redistributed away from a program that publishes no results. The alternative is perverse, because it would put every silent program above every program honest enough to report a middling year.
The distinction matters: a program scoring low for publishing nothing has not been judged on its teaching, because there is nothing to judge it on. No figure is estimated in its place. What has been marked is a disclosure obligation that comes with the accreditation, and the card says as much.
The methodology sets out the weights and the thresholds in full.
What do marriage and family therapists earn in Illinois?
Marriage and family therapists in Illinois earn a median of $60,970, against $66,940 nationally, on Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for May 2025. That is $5,970 below the national figure , and 25th highest of the 45 states that publish one. The range runs from about $51,420 at the tenth percentile to $104,900 at the ninetieth.
The state employs 860 of them, which is 0.33 times the national rate per head of population. Every state and every setting sits side by side on the salary page.
How do you get licensed as an MFT in Illinois?
You get licensed as an MFT in Illinois by starting with a qualifying master's degree, and with five accredited programs in the state that is a step you can take without moving. The hour counts, coursework rules and examination requirements that follow are the Illinois board's to set and to change, and this page does not reprint them, because a stale figure copied from a directory is worse than no figure at all.
Accreditation is what shortens that conversation with the state board: all of the accredited programs on this page hold COAMFTE accreditation, and a state board generally accepts an accredited MFT degree without auditing it course by course. Worth weighing alongside it: Illinois carries fewer of these jobs per head than the country as a whole, at 0.33 times the national rate, so ask the programs above where their graduates actually end up.
Two things are worth asking the Illinois state board directly before you commit: how many supervised hours it requires, and whether it accepts hours accrued in another state. Programs answer both questions confidently and are not the authority on either.
For the route step by step, see the career page; for what the scores here measure, the methodology.
MFT programs in Illinois by city
2 cities in Illinois have a page of their own, each covering the programs based there and what the job pays in that metropolitan area rather than statewide. Programs in the rest of the state are on this page and nowhere else.
Where else can you study if Illinois does not have what you want?
If Illinois does not have what you want, the wider field is open to you, but you can build a real shortlist inside the state alone, which most states cannot manage at this level.
The nearest alternatives with accredited master's MFT programs are Indiana (four), Iowa (one), Kansas (three). 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.
Widen it further and the national ranking covers all 59 programs with a publishable record.
Cities near Illinois with their own page
These sit elsewhere in the midwest, 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 Illinois
How many accredited master's MFT programs are in Illinois?
Can you get licensed as an MFT in Illinois with an online degree?
What do marriage and family therapists earn in Illinois?
Should you study in Illinois or move for a program?
Where do these figures come from?
Every figure on this page comes from one of three places, and each is linked below: COAMFTE for accreditation, the programs themselves for outcomes, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics for pay.
- COAMFTE Directory of Accredited Programs Accredited programs in Illinois, 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 Illinois postholders.
- Ranking methodology The three factors, their weights, and the eligibility floor.
Show all 5 program pages cited
Northern Illinois University (MS) Adler University (MA) Northwestern University, The Family Institute (MS) Northwestern University, The Family Institute (MS) Wheaton College Graduate School (MA)