5 accredited MFT programs sit in Washington 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 Washington, ranked
All 5 of Washington’s accredited master's MFT programs carry a score out of 100. Three have a full published record behind their outcomes component. 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
Seattle Pacific University (MS)
Seattle, WA
94.3
program score
Campus-basedMaster'sAccredited since July 1, 19968 scored cohortsWhat Seattle Pacific University publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time87.1%typical is 87.1%
- Working in the field100%typical is 98.8%
- Reached licensure100%typical is 90.5%
From 8 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
Where it leads in Washington
Washington pays a median of $60,000 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 $55,690 and ten per cent over $103,740, a spread driven more by whether you are salaried or in practice than by years served.
What to know about it
Seattle Pacific University runs this degree from Seattle, WA. Year to year it holds a narrow band, 80.8% to 92.4%. A concentration in medical and healthcare settings sits alongside the core degree. Curriculum runs to 70 credits. Coursework named on its own page covers medical family therapy. On its own published figures that is 70 credits at $843 each, or roughly $59,010 in tuition before fees. Several cohorts are still running, 2 of them, the most recent entering in 2025-2026. Six or more completed cohorts is enough history to trust the pattern rather than the latest year.
Why it sits here Scored 94.3 of 100, with 56.5 of 60 from a record covering 8 completed cohorts and 263 students.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2025-2026 33 – – – 2024-2025 22 – – – 2023-2024 25 91% – – 2022-2023 26 88.2% 100% 100% 2021-2022 26 92.2% 100% 100% 2020-2021 23 82.3% 100% 100% Seattle Pacific University program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 56.5/6094.2 across 8 completed cohorts
- Transparency 25/25publishes 8 completed cohorts at the address COAMFTE lists
- Standing 12.7/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2029-11
263 students admitted since 2015
- #2 Accredited with stipulations
Pacific Lutheran University (MA)
Tacoma, WA
90.6
program score
Campus-basedMaster'sAccredited since January 1, 19909 scored cohortsWhat Pacific Lutheran University publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time92.6%typical is 87.1%
- Working in the field97.1%typical is 98.8%
- Reached licensure90.5%typical is 90.5%
From 9 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
Where it leads in Washington
Once licensed, the median for the occupation in Washington is $60,000, in a market about as dense as most states'. Ten per cent earn under $55,690 and ten per cent over $103,740, a spread driven more by whether you are salaried or in practice than by years served.
What to know about it
Accredited since 1990, taught on campus. Performance has barely moved in 9 years, 92.5% across the earlier cohorts and 92% across the later ones. Taking the last cohort with complete figures, its 2023-2024 intake of 22: 100% finished on time, 90% found relevant work, 86% reached licensure. Washington carries five accredited master's programs, so a shortlist here can afford to be selective in a way it cannot in most states. Five of the programs ranked here are in Washington, 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. Disclosure runs deeper than most, 9 cohorts complete out of 10 published. Next accreditation review falls in 2033. Stipulations are on file, meaning a fixed window to correct something. License eligibility is unaffected, and it is a fair question at interview.
Why it sits here Scored 90.6 of 100, with 56.3 of 60 from a record covering 9 completed cohorts and 211 students.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2024-2025 20 in process in process in process 2023-2024 22 100% 90% 86% 2022-2023 24 92% 100% 86% 2021-2022 22 95% 100% 86% 2020-2021 21 81% 100% 100% 2019-2020 20 95% 94% 100% Pacific Lutheran University program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 56.3/6093.8 across 9 completed cohorts
- Transparency 25/25publishes 9 completed cohorts at the address COAMFTE lists
- Standing 9.3/15accredited with stipulations, current term runs to 2033-05
211 students admitted since 2015
- #3
Antioch University Seattle (MA)
Seattle, WA
86.5
program score
Blended or hybridMaster's3.5 yearsAccredited since July 1, 20057 scored cohortsWhat Antioch University Seattle publishes about its graduates, against the median for comparable programs - Finish on time63.4%typical is 87.1%
- Working in the field98.8%typical is 98.8%
- Reached licensure86.6%typical is 90.5%
From 7 completed cohorts the program published itself. The mark on each bar is the median for comparable programs.
Where it leads in Washington
Marriage and family therapists in Washington earn a median of $60,000, on a concentration of work close to the typical state's. The range behind that runs from about $55,690 to $103,740, and where you land in it is mostly a question of setting rather than of seniority.
What to know about it
Antioch University Seattle has held accreditation on this degree since 2005. Direction of travel is the worry, falling from 69.3% in the earlier cohorts to 56% in the later ones. Finishing is the hard part here rather than getting hired: 63.4% graduate on time, and 98.8% of those who do find relevant work. Coursework named on its own page covers play therapy and sex therapy. Disclosure runs deeper than most, 7 cohorts complete out of 11 published. Six or more completed cohorts is enough history to trust the pattern rather than the latest year.
Why it sits here Scored 86.5 of 100, with 48.2 of 60 from a record covering 7 completed cohorts and 596 students.
Cohort by cohort
Cohort Admitted Graduated Placed Licensed 2025-2026 – in process in process in process 2024-2025 49 in process in process in process 2023-2024 67 in process in process in process 2022-2023 62 in process in process in process 2021-2022 64 49% 100% 80% 2020-2021 69 70% 100% 80% Antioch University Seattle program page Its published outcome table
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 48.2/6080.4 across 7 completed cohorts
- Transparency 25/25publishes 7 completed cohorts at the address COAMFTE lists
- Standing 13.2/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2030-11
596 students admitted since 2015
- #4
Whitworth University
Spokane, WA
16.2
program score
Campus-basedMaster'sWhere it leads in Washington
Marriage and family therapists in Washington earn a median of $60,000, on a concentration of work close to the typical state's. Ten per cent earn under $55,690 and ten per cent over $103,740, a spread driven more by whether you are salaried or in practice than by years served.
What to know about it
Whitworth University runs this degree from Spokane, WA. Five of the programs ranked here are in Washington, and this is one of them. Studying here means being in Spokane, which is worth pricing before it is worth comparing. 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 16.2 of 100, all of it from transparency and standing. Nothing is deducted for poor results here; the 60 points that results carry are simply not claimed, because none are published.
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 0/60no completed-cohort outcomes published
- Transparency 2.5/25has a disclosure link that does not resolve
- Standing 13.7/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2031-11
-
- #5
Seattle University (MA)
Seattle, WA
14.3
program score
Campus-basedMaster'sWhere it leads in Washington
Marriage and family therapists in Washington earn a median of $60,000, on a concentration of work close to the typical state's. The range behind that runs from about $55,690 to $103,740, and where you land in it is mostly a question of setting rather than of seniority.
What to know about it
Seattle University runs this degree from Seattle, WA. No licensure rate is published, so the score rests on graduation and placement alone, as it does for 2 of the 5 programs here. Coursework named on its own page covers trauma-informed practice. 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 Scored 14.3 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.
Score breakdown
- Outcomes 0/60no completed-cohort outcomes published
- Transparency 2.5/25has a disclosure link that does not resolve
- Standing 11.8/15accredited without conditions, current term runs to 2027-11
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How is this ranking of Washington MFT programs ordered?
This ranking of Washington 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.
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.
Read a score in the twenties as "this program has not shown its results", never as "this program's results are poor". Nothing is imputed on a program's behalf; the missing component simply goes unearned, and the card explains that where it appears. COAMFTE requires this data to be published, which is why the absence is scorable at all.
For the full scoring model, including what it refuses to measure, see the methodology.
What do marriage and family therapists earn in Washington?
Marriage and family therapists in Washington earn a median of $60,000, against $66,940 nationally, on Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for May 2025. That is $6,940 below the national figure , and 30th highest of the 45 states that publish one. The range runs from about $55,690 at the tenth percentile to $103,740 at the ninetieth.
No employment count is published for the state, which the federal survey withholds when releasing it would identify individual employers. Every state and every setting sits side by side on the salary page.
How do you get licensed as an MFT in Washington?
To get licensed as an MFT in Washington you begin with a qualifying master's degree, and five accredited programs in the state offer one. What comes after it, the supervised hours, the examination and whatever else the Washington board asks for, is set by the Washington 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.
What accreditation buys is a shorter conversation with the state board, which is why all five master's MFT programs listed here are accredited and no unaccredited one appears. Where you accrue your supervised hours matters more than it looks, because they are counted by the board that will license you and moving mid-route can mean recounting them.
Two things are worth asking the Washington 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.
Both halves of that are covered elsewhere: the route on the career page, the scoring on the methodology page.
MFT programs in Washington by city
2 cities in Washington 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 Washington does not have what you want?
If Washington 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 California (17), Colorado (three), Nevada (one). 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 Washington without moving.
The national ranking holds all 59 scored programs at this level, Washington's among them.
Cities near Washington with their own page
These sit elsewhere in the west, 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 Washington
How many accredited master's MFT programs are in Washington?
Can you get licensed as an MFT in Washington with an online degree?
What do marriage and family therapists earn in Washington?
Should you study in Washington or move for a program?
Where do these figures come from?
The figures here come from the record each fact belongs to. What is accredited is the accreditor's to state, what a program achieved is that program's to publish, and what the work pays is the federal survey's to measure.
- COAMFTE Directory of Accredited Programs Accredited programs in Washington, 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 Washington postholders.
- Ranking methodology The three factors, their weights, and the eligibility floor.
Show all 5 program pages cited
Seattle Pacific University (MS) Pacific Lutheran University (MA) Antioch University Seattle (MA) Seattle University (MA) Whitworth University