Social and Human Service Assistants
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Overview
Assist other social and human service providers in providing client services in a wide variety of fields, such as psychology, rehabilitation, or social work, including support for families. May assist clients in identifying and obtaining available benefits and social and community services. May assist social workers with developing, organizing, and conducting programs to prevent and resolve problems relevant to substance abuse, human relationships, rehabilitation, or dependent care.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($49K): Communications
Largest undergraduate program (14.1% of workers): Psychology
Explore Pathways
Titles for this career often contain these words
AideAssistantSocialAdvocateCommunityWorkServiceServicesWelfareCaseManagementVisitorWorkerCounselorClinicalFamilyHumanAddictionsChildChildren'sClientDevelopmentOrganizationProgramCounselingCourtDomesticViolenceFoodGerontologyGroupActivitiesHomeHouseHousingIntakeNeighborhoodPsychologicalResidentialCareShelterClerkAssociateTherapeuticVictim
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Responsibilities and activities

Social and human service assistants typically do the following:

  • Help determine what type of aid their clients need
  • Work with clients and other professionals, such as social workers, to develop a treatment plan
  • Help clients find assistance with daily activities, such as eating and bathing
  • Research services, such as food stamps and Medicaid, that are available to clients
  • Coordinate services provided to clients
  • Help clients complete paperwork to apply for assistance programs
  • Check in with clients to ensure that services are provided appropriately

Social and human service assistants have many job titles, including case work aide, clinical social work aide, family service assistant, social work assistant, addictions counselor assistant, and human service worker.

Social and human service assistants help clients identify and obtain benefits and services. In addition to initially connecting clients with benefits or services, social and human service assistants may follow up with clients to ensure that they are receiving the intended services and that the services are meeting their needs. They work under the direction of social workers, psychologists, or other community and social service workers.

With children and families, social and human service assistants ensure that the children live in safe homes. They help parents get needed resources for their children, such as food stamps or childcare.

With the elderly, these workers help clients stay in their own homes and live under their own care whenever possible. Social and human service assistants may coordinate meal deliveries or find personal care aides to help with the clients’ day-to-day needs, such as running errands and bathing. In some cases, human service assistants help look for residential care facilities, such as nursing homes.

For people with disabilities, social and human service assistants help find rehabilitation services that aid their clients. They may work with employers to make a job more accessible to people with disabilities. Some workers find personal care services to help clients with daily living activities, such as bathing and making meals.

For people with addictions, human service assistants find rehabilitation centers that meet their clients’ needs. They also may find support groups for people who are dependent on alcohol, drugs, gambling, or other substances or behaviors.

With veterans, assistants help people who have been discharged from the military adjust to civilian life. They help with practical needs, such as locating housing and finding ways to apply skills gained in the military to civilian jobs. They may also help their clients navigate the services available to veterans.

For people with mental illnesses, social and human service assistants help clients find the appropriate resources to help them cope with their illness. They find self-help and support groups to provide their clients with an assistance network. In addition, they may find personal care services or group housing to help those with more severe mental illnesses care for themselves.

With immigrants, workers help clients adjust to living in a new country. They help the clients locate jobs and housing. They may also help them find programs that teach English, or they may find legal assistance to help immigrants get administrative paperwork in order.

With former prison inmates, human service assistants find job training or placement programs to help clients reenter society. Human service assistants help former inmates find housing and connect with programs that help them start a new life for themselves.

With homeless people, assistants help clients meet their basic needs. They find temporary or permanent housing for their clients and locate places, such as soup kitchens, that provide meals. Human service assistants also help homeless people find resources to address other problems they may have, such as joblessness.

Salary
Median salary: $35,960 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $29,220 and $45,100.
$36K$0$20K$40K$60K
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for social and human service assistants
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
$34K$37K$37K$42K$25K$41K$40K$43K$40K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
Number employed
05K10K15K20K25K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
About Social and Human Service Assistants
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of social and human service assistants who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
  • Time Pressure (82%)
  • High Conflict Frequency (68%)
  • Responsible for Others' Health (62%)
  • Unpleasant or Angry People (48%)
  • Exposed to Disease or Infections (43%)
  • Exposed to Contaminants (41%)
SOURCES:
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Social and Human Service Assistants? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Communication skills
Social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help. These workers must be able to listen to their clients and to communicate the clients’ needs to organizations that can help them.
Compassion
Social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations. To develop strong relationships, they must have compassion and empathy for their clients.
Interpersonal skills
Social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues. Assistants also build relationships with other service providers to become familiar with all of the resources that are available in their communities.
Organizational skills
Social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients. They must be organized in order to ensure that the paperwork is filed properly and that clients are getting the help they need.
Problem-solving skills
Social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems. They must be able to listen carefully to their clients’ needs and offer practical solutions.
Time-management skills
Social and human service assistants often work with many clients. They must manage their time effectively to ensure that their clients are getting the attention they need.
Injury and Illness
About 37 social and human service assistants become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 62% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
All multiple traumatic injuries
Bruises and contusions
Fractures
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by social and human service assistants
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), social and human service assistants typically hold a high school diploma or equivalent.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as social and human service assistants as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for social and human service assistants

Although a high school diploma is typically required, some employers prefer to hire workers who have relevant work experience or education beyond high school. A certificate or an associate’s degree in a subject such as human services, gerontology (working with older adults), or social or behavioral science is becoming more common for workers entering this occupation.

Human service degree programs train students to observe and interview patients, carry out treatment plans, and handle people who are undergoing a crisis. Many programs include fieldwork to give students hands-on experience.

The level of education that social and human service assistants have completed often determines the responsibilities they are given. Those with a high school diploma are likely to do lower level work, such as helping clients fill out paperwork. Assistants with some college education may coordinate program activities or manage a group home.

Education level of Social and Human Service Assistants
Only 50% of social and human service assistants have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by social and human service assistants
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Top college degrees
Here are the top college degrees held by the 48% of people in this job who have at least a bachelor's degree. Some of degrees may link to multiple programs due to the way Census classifies college majors. Click on a program to learn more about career opportunities for people who major in that field.
  1. Psychology
  2. Social Work
  3. Criminal Justice and Fire Protection
  4. Sociology
  5. Business Management and Administration
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College majors held by social and human service assistants
This table shows the college majors held by people working as social and human service assistants. If you see "**" before the name of a degree/program, that means this field is one that the Department of Education believes is preparatory for this career. However, you can see from this list that those recommendations are far from your only path to this job!
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
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Career salary (tail) versus Career/Major salary (dot)
Does the bachelor's-only salary rise or fall with this major?
$36K$49K
Salary for bachelor's-only
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Salary for all workers
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Education for Career and Major
Bachelor's
Master's
Professional
Doctorate
Workers with this career/major
Percentage in this career with this major
Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click a program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Not so much?
The link between degrees and this career
With the following sankey diagram, you can follow the top ten bachelor's degrees held by people working as social and human service assistants, and then, in turn, you can see the 10 occupations that hire the most of each degree's graduates. We hope this provides ideas for similar jobs and similar fields of study.
Expand degrees
PsychologySocial WorkCriminal Justice and...SociologyBusiness Management ...Political Science an...Family and Consumer ...CommunicationsHuman Services and C...General EducationAll other degreesThis jobTop 10 majors
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Social and Human Service Assistants per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most social and human service assistants? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as social and human service assistants. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where social and human service assistants earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
  • In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for social and human service assistants compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
  • Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for social and human service assistants.
We hope the ratio allows perspective about how salaries may compare to the regional cost-of-living.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which social and human service assistants earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Social and Human Service Assistants (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Employment
18% of Social and human service assistants are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 18% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 63% of careers.
18%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of social and human service assistants by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
$37K$35K$36K$37K$42K$52K$0$20,000$40,000$60,000$80,000$100,000Federal governmentState governmentLocal governmentPrivate not-for-profitPrivate for-profitAll
Gender
Social and human service assistants and gender
With 77% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 87% of careers.
Gender of Social and human service assistants
Men (23%)
Women (77%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
$37K$39K$0$100K$200K$300KWomenMen
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
77%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women by 19%. The situation is a little better for social and human service assistants, with the median salary for men 5% higher than the median salary for women.
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Race/Origin
Race and origin of Social and human service assistants
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Social and human service assistants.
Race/origin of social and human service assistants
White (63% )
Black (23% )
Other (5% )
Asian (3% )
Multiracial (3% )
American Indian (2% )
Hispanic (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
$32K$36K$37K$37K$38K$39K$44K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100KHispanicMultiracialWhiteBlackAmerican IndianOtherAsian
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.