All two of Ohio's accredited master's MFT programs are ranked below, not just the ones with results to show. 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 Ohio, ranked
All 2 of Ohio’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
Ohio State University (MS)
Columbus, OH
94.7
program score
Campus-basedMaster's6 scored cohortsWhat Ohio State University publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time91.2%typical is 91.2%
- Working in the field96.5%typical is 96.5%
- Reached licensure96.5%typical is 96.5%
From 6 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
Where it leads in Ohio
Ohio carries less of this work per head than most states, at a median of $70,240, so it is worth asking the program where its graduates end up. Ten per cent earn under $41,200 and ten per cent over $157,860, a spread driven more by whether you are salaried or in practice than by years served.
What to know about it
The record here rests on cohorts of about 9 students. Individual years swing hard, though, from 80% in 2024-2025 to 100% in 2019-2020, so the average is doing some hiding. Placement has softened, from 100% in the earlier cohorts to 91.7% in the later ones. Direction of travel is the worry, falling from 100% in the earlier cohorts to 83% in the later ones. 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 2030. Six or more completed cohorts is enough history to trust the pattern rather than the latest year.
Why it sits here Scored 94.7 of 100, with 56.5 of 60 from a record covering 6 completed cohorts and 50 students.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2025-2026 16 in process in process in process 2024-2025 5 80% in process in process 2023-2024 6 83.3% 83.3% 83.3% 2022-2023 7 85.7% 100% 100% 2021-2022 8 100% 100% 100% 2020-2021 4 100% 100% 100% Ohio State University program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 56.5/6094.1 across 6 completed cohorts
- Transparency 25/25publishes 6 completed cohorts at the address COAMFTE lists
- Standing 13.2/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2030-11
50 students admitted since 2015
- #2
University of Akron (MA)
Akron, OH
14.5
program score
Blended or hybridMaster'sWhere it leads in Ohio
This is a quieter market than most: Ohio sits in the bottom quarter of states for jobs per head, paying a median of $70,240. The range behind that runs from about $41,200 to $157,860, and where you land in it is mostly a question of setting rather than of seniority.
What to know about it
University of Akron runs this degree from Akron, OH, blended. No licensure rate is published, so the score rests on graduation and placement alone, as it does for 1 of the 2 programs here. 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. Next accreditation review falls in 2028. Three completed cohorts is a thin record, so ask what the years still in progress look like.
Why it sits here 14.5 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 Akron 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 12/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2028-05
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How is this ranking of Ohio MFT programs ordered?
This ranking of Ohio 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. 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 covers how each factor is weighted and why the field is not scored on anything else.
What do marriage and family therapists earn in Ohio?
Marriage and family therapists in Ohio earn a median of $70,240, against $66,940 nationally, on Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for May 2025. That is $3,300 above the national figure , and 12th highest of the 45 states that publish one. The range runs from about $41,200 at the tenth percentile to $157,860 at the ninetieth.
The state employs 460 of them, which is 0.19 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 Ohio?
You get licensed as an MFT in Ohio 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 Ohio 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. Worth weighing alongside it: Ohio carries fewer of these jobs per head than the country as a whole, at 0.19 times the national rate, so ask the programs above where their graduates actually end up.
Ask the Ohio state board two things in writing: what it counts as a qualifying degree, and how it treats supervised hours accrued out of state. Those answers shape the choice between accredited programs more than any brochure will.
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 Ohio by city
One city in Ohio 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 Ohio does not have what you want?
Where else you can study matters more in Ohio 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 Illinois (five), Indiana (four), Iowa (one). 17 states have no accredited programs at this level at all, which is the gap the accredited distance programs exist to fill.
The distance master's ranking lists the programs open to you wherever in Ohio you live.
All 59 scored programs at this level are on the national ranking.
Cities near Ohio 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 Ohio
How many accredited master's MFT programs are in Ohio?
Can you get licensed as an MFT in Ohio with an online degree?
What do marriage and family therapists earn in Ohio?
Should you study in Ohio or move for a program?
Where do these figures come from?
These figures come from three independent sources, kept separate on purpose, because that is what makes any one of them checkable against the original.
- COAMFTE Directory of Accredited Programs Accredited programs in Ohio, 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 Ohio postholders.
- Ranking methodology The three factors, their weights, and the eligibility floor.