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Major · Health Professions

The hands-on healing credential that trains licensed massage therapists

Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage trains you in Swedish, deep tissue, sports, myofascial, and trigger-point techniques to relieve pain and support client wellbeing. About 402 graduates complete this major annually across roughly 76 colleges — almost exclusively at the associate's level, since most massage therapy training nationwide happens through certificate programs at career colleges and community colleges.

Schools offering
76
Annual completions
402
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$30k

About this major

Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage trains you in the manual techniques used to relieve pain, support recovery, and improve client wellbeing — Swedish massage as the technical foundation, then deep tissue, sports massage, trigger-point therapy, myofascial release, cranio-sacral work, and reflexology. The CIP definition pairs technique training with anatomy, physiology, pathology, client counseling, practice management, applicable regulations, and professional ethics. A substantial share of the program is supervised hands-on practice — by graduation, you've typically logged hundreds of hours working on real clients in clinic settings, which is how you build the kinesthetic skill and clinical judgment the work demands.

The credential exists primarily at the associate's level in IPEDS reporting — about 402 graduates per year across roughly 76 colleges, almost all of them associate's completers (only 13 bachelor's completers nationally, concentrated at one school). That number understates the scale of massage therapy training in the United States: most working therapists complete a 500-to-1,000-hour state-approved certificate program at a career college or community college, which doesn't show up in CIP-degree data. The associate's adds general education coursework and may transfer toward a related allied-health bachelor's, but it is not required for licensure.

The primary career destination is licensed massage therapist (SOC 31-9011), with a BLS median wage of $57,950 and projected job growth of about 15% — one of the faster-growing health occupations. About 64% of massage therapists are self-employed, working private practice, mobile platforms (Soothe, Zeel), or as contractors at chiropractic offices, PT clinics, spa chains (Massage Envy, Hand & Stone, Elements), resort and hotel spas (Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Canyon Ranch, Miraval), cruise ship spa concessions, or hospital wellness programs (Mayo, Cleveland Clinic, MD Anderson). The 14.7% growth signal is real — but how much of it you capture depends on geography, specialty certifications, and your willingness to build a client base over time.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Health specialties teachers, postsecondary $106k +17.3% Doctoral or professional degree
Massage therapists $58k +15.4% Postsecondary nondegree award
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$30k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you're drawn to hands-on healthcare work and the people-skills side of clinical practice, comfortable with sustained physical contact and the kinesthetic feedback of manual therapy, willing to spend hundreds of hours building technical skill before you're fully fluent, and energized by the relational side of seeing the same clients regularly over months and years. The credential rewards students who can read bodies — noticing tension patterns, asking the right questions about pain, adjusting pressure and technique based on what they feel under their hands. If you eventually want to build a private practice, an entrepreneurial streak helps: massage therapists who clear the highest incomes are usually the ones who treat the work as a business, build referral networks, invest in specialty certifications (oncology, manual lymphatic drainage, sports, prenatal), and pick high-demand geographies.

Think twice if you're expecting reliable salaried earnings out of the gate — the five-year median for associate's completers from this CIP is about $29,534, well below the BLS occupation full-time-equivalent median of $57,950, and the gap reflects how much of this field runs on part-time hours, self-employment, and spa-chain commission splits. Think twice also if the physical demands concern you: massage is hands-and-shoulders-intensive work, and career-length burnout is real — many therapists transition out of full-time hands-on work after 10-15 years. If you're drawn to the body-based healing side but want a higher earnings ceiling, look at adjacent programs (Physical Therapist Assistant, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Athletic Training, or eventually DPT or DC programs) where the credential ladders upward more directly. Massage therapy is a real allied-health career — but it's a craft career, not a salary career, and that distinction shapes nearly everything downstream.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Massage Therapy/Therapeutic Massage

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Swedish Institute a College of Health Sciences New York, NY 80 0 80
Universidad Ana G. Mendez-Cupey Campus San Juan, PR 32 0 32
Anne Arundel Community College Arnold, MD 29 0 29
CUNY Queensborough Community College Bayside, NY 27 0 27
WellSpring School of Allied Health-Wichita Wichita, KS 22 0 22
Universidad Ana G. Mendez-Gurabo Campus Gurabo, PR 17 0 17
Northwestern Health Sciences University Bloomington, MN 16 0 16
Siena Heights University Adrian, MI 0 13 13
Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis, IN 11 0 11
Mildred Elley School-Albany Campus Albany, NY 11 0 11
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General

27,135 completions/yr

Communication Sciences and Disorders, General

4,781 completions/yr

Audiology/Audiologist and Speech-Language Pathology/Pathologist

4,422 completions/yr

Health and Wellness, General

4,268 completions/yr

Speech-Language Pathology/Pathologist

1,462 completions/yr

Therapeutic Recreation/Recreational Therapy

628 completions/yr

Audiology/Audiologist

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Asian Bodywork Therapy

50 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do massage therapy majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework is split between anatomy, physiology, and pathology — the science of how muscles, fascia, joints, and the nervous system work — and supervised hands-on technique practice. You'll learn Swedish massage as the foundation, then build into deep tissue, sports massage, myofascial release, trigger-point therapy, and often cranio-sacral work. Programs also cover client assessment, contraindications, hygiene and safety, business management, applicable state regulations, and professional ethics. Most of your hours are spent in clinic or lab settings practicing on classmates and supervised real clients — by graduation you've typically logged hundreds of hours of hands-on work.
Do I really need an associate's degree, or is a certificate enough to become a massage therapist?
For most working massage therapists, a certificate from a state-approved program is the standard credential — typically 500 to 1,000 hours depending on the state, completed at a community college or career college. The BLS lists 'postsecondary nondegree award' as the typical entry education for SOC 31-9011 Massage Therapists. The associate's degree adds general education coursework and may help if you later transfer credits toward a related allied-health bachelor's, but it is not required to sit for the MBLEx (Massage and Bodywork Licensing Examination) or to get licensed in your state. The bachelor's level in this CIP is rare — only a handful of schools offer it, and only 13 completers showed up in the most recent national snapshot.
What kinds of jobs do massage therapy graduates actually end up in?
Most graduates work as licensed massage therapists (LMTs) in spa and wellness chains (Massage Envy, Hand & Stone, Elements, Massage Heights), resort and hotel spas (Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Canyon Ranch, Miraval), chiropractic and physical therapy clinics, hospital wellness programs (Mayo, Cleveland Clinic, MD Anderson), and cruise ship spas. A large share — roughly 64% according to BLS data — are self-employed, running private practices or working as contractors. Mobile and in-home platforms (Soothe, Zeel) are a smaller but growing segment. The BLS occupation median wage for massage therapists is $57,950, with projected job growth of about 15% — among the faster-growing health occupations.
Why is the five-year median earnings figure ($29,534) so much lower than the BLS occupation wage of $57,950?
The five-year graduate median in the data reflects what associate's completers from this CIP are actually earning across the workforce — and massage therapy has structural patterns that pull that figure below the full-time-equivalent BLS occupation median. Many therapists work part-time hours by design (the work is physically demanding and full-time hands-on schedules drive burnout), a large share are self-employed with variable utilization (you only earn when you have clients on your table), and early-career therapists often work in spa-chain settings where commission rates take 50-70% of the per-session price. The BLS $57,950 figure represents full-time-equivalent earnings; what you actually take home depends heavily on hourly rate × utilization × revenue split, plus your geography. Established private-practice therapists in high-cost-of-living markets can clear well above the median; new graduates working spa-chain shifts often earn substantially less.
What licensing do I need to actually practice as a massage therapist?
Massage therapy is regulated at the state level in 45+ states. The standard path is: complete a state-approved program (typically 500-1,000 hours), pass the MBLEx administered by the FSMTB (Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards), pass any state-specific exam, submit a background check, and apply for state licensure. After licensure you maintain it through continuing education hours. Voluntary advanced credentials include NCBTMB Diplomate certification, plus specialty certs in oncology massage, manual lymphatic drainage (MLD), prenatal, sports massage, and myofascial release (Barnes-method). These specialty certs are how therapists differentiate and command higher per-session rates.
I want to work in healthcare with my hands but I'm worried about earnings — what are my options beyond just LMT?
Massage therapy is a strong starting point but several adjacent paths offer higher earnings ceilings: Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA, AAS degree, NPTE-PTA exam) typically pays in the $60-70K range; Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA, AAS) is similar; Athletic Trainer requires a master's (CAATE-accredited) and works in sports and clinical settings; Physical Therapist (DPT, doctoral) and Chiropractor (DC, doctoral) are longer paths with substantially higher earnings ceilings; Acupuncture (master's, NCCAOM) sits adjacent to massage in the wellness market. Some massage therapists use the credential as a stable income source while pursuing PT or OT graduate paths — your manual-therapy skills are directly relevant. If business and marketing energize you, building a private practice in a high-demand geography (particularly with specialty certifications) is the highest-earnings route within massage itself.