All two of North Carolina's accredited master's MFT programs are ranked below, not just the ones with results to show. One score covers all of them, combining published outcomes with disclosure and accreditation standing.
Every accredited master's MFT program in North Carolina, ranked
All 2 of North Carolina’s accredited master's MFT programs carry a score out of 100. One has a full published record behind its outcomes component. One publishes nothing, so it forfeits the 60 points for results and cannot pass 40. That is a statement about disclosure, not about teaching.
- #1
East Carolina University (MS)
Greenville, NC
94.2
program score
Campus-basedMaster's2 years10 scored cohortsWhat East Carolina University publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time97.4%typical is 97.4%
- Working in the field93%typical is 93%
- Reached licensure98.3%typical is 98.3%
From 10 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
Where it leads in North Carolina
North Carolina pays a median of $48,100 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 $27,860 and ten per cent over $109,200, a spread driven more by whether you are salaried or in practice than by years served.
What to know about it
East Carolina University runs this degree from Greenville, NC. Taking the last cohort with complete figures, its 2024-2025 intake of 12: 100% finished on time, 100% found relevant work, 91.6% reached licensure. A concentration in medical and healthcare settings sits alongside the core degree. Coursework named on its own page covers medical family therapy. Disclosure runs deeper than most, 10 cohorts complete out of 11 published. Next accreditation review falls in 2027. Six or more completed cohorts is enough history to trust the pattern rather than the latest year.
Why it sits here Scored 94.2 of 100, with 57.6 of 60 from a record covering 10 completed cohorts and 129 students.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2025-2026 12 in process in process in process 2024-2025 12 100% 100% 91.6% 2023-2024 10 100% 100% 100% 2022-2023 11 100% 100% 100% 2021-2022 13 92.3% 92.3% 92.3% 2020-2021 12 100% 100% 100% East Carolina University program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 57.6/6096 across 10 completed cohorts
- Transparency 25/25publishes 10 completed cohorts at the address COAMFTE lists
- Standing 11.6/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2027-05
129 students admitted since 2015
- #2
Appalachian State University (MA)
Boone, NC
19.5
program score
Campus-basedMaster'sWhere it leads in North Carolina
Once licensed, the median for the occupation in North Carolina is $48,100, in a market about as dense as most states'. The range behind that runs from about $27,860 to $109,200, and where you land in it is mostly a question of setting rather than of seniority.
What to know about it
Appalachian State University runs this degree from Boone, NC. No licensure rate is published, so the score rests on graduation and placement alone, as it does for 1 of the 2 programs here. A concentration in substance use and addiction sits alongside the core degree. Next accreditation review falls in 2028. Publishing this data is a condition of the accreditation the program holds, so its absence is worth a question rather than a shrug. 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.
Appalachian State 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
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How is this ranking of North Carolina MFT programs ordered?
This ranking of North Carolina MFT programs is ordered by score, and one of the state's two accredited master's programs publish results and are scored on them. The other one publish none, so their scores come from transparency and standing alone and stop at 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).
A program that publishes nothing does not have the outcomes weight handed back to it. If it did, disclosure would become a liability: publish a mediocre record and score below the program that published nothing at all.
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.
The methodology sets out the weights and the thresholds in full.
What do marriage and family therapists earn in North Carolina?
Marriage and family therapists in North Carolina earn a median of $48,100, against $66,940 nationally, on Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for May 2025. That is $18,840 below the national figure , and 40th highest of the 45 states that publish one. The range runs from about $27,860 at the tenth percentile to $109,200 at the ninetieth.
The state employs 1,400 of them, which is 0.66 times the national rate per head of population. A base of that size means the median above is a market rate, not an artefact of two or three large employers. The salary page puts North Carolina against the other states and against each work setting.
How do you get licensed as an MFT in North Carolina?
You get licensed as an MFT in North Carolina by earning a qualifying master's degree first, and the two accredited programs above are the in-state ways to get one. The rest of the route, hours and examination and the paperwork around them, is defined by the North Carolina state board rather than by the accreditor, and this page sends you there rather than paraphrasing rules that move.
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. One practical note that applies wherever you train: start the conversation about supervised hours before you enroll, not after, because a program's placement network is the part that is hardest to replace yourself.
Before choosing between accredited programs, put two questions to the North Carolina 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.
MFT programs in North Carolina by city
One city in North Carolina has a page of its own, covering the programs based there and what the license pays in that metropolitan area. Programs in the rest of the state are on this page and nowhere else.
Where else can you study if North Carolina does not have what you want?
If North Carolina does not have what you want, you are in ordinary company, because a shortlist built only from this state would have two names on it.
The nearest alternatives with accredited master's MFT programs are Alabama (two), Florida (two), Georgia (four). 17 states have no accredited programs at this level at all, which is the gap the accredited distance programs exist to fill.
The online and hybrid master's ranking covers what you can study from North Carolina without moving.
Every scored program at this level, 59 of them, sits on the national ranking.
Cities near North Carolina 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 North Carolina
How many accredited master's MFT programs are in North Carolina?
Can you get licensed as an MFT in North Carolina with an online degree?
What do marriage and family therapists earn in North Carolina?
Should you study in North Carolina 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 North Carolina, 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 North Carolina postholders.
- Ranking methodology The three factors, their weights, and the eligibility floor.
Show all 2 program pages cited
East Carolina University (MS) Appalachian State University (MA)