There is a huge variation in the training of masters levels therapists (not to mention differences between LCSWs, LMFTs and LPCCs or whatever alphabet soup they are in your particular state). That said, there is also huge variation in training of doctoral psychologists (particularly with the PsyD programs and the non-APA accredited programs) and even psychiatrists. Ultimately, you are responsible for what you know and the quality of care you provide. I was asked to supervise students from the local master's level therapy program and interviewed several and was not impressed with their training. That does not mean they can't become outstanding therapists with good supervision and cases. The challenge is securing that experience. Many students and interns/associates end up doing case management or working with totally unsuitable patients in settings where they don't get to do proper therapy and yet this counts to their hours for licensure.
There are certainly excellent masters level therapists, but in general I am very wary of them because I have seen many patients who have been harmed by masters level therapists. In my area, they are all into EMDR, brainspotting, IFS and other somatic therapies. Some of the therapists are doing tarot readings with their clients and billing it as therapy. Others integrate psychic medium services in their practice. Past life regression and spirit release therapy have largely gone out of fashion but there are still some in my area who offer them to my patients. I find it hard to believe that these therapies are actually in high demand from patients or referring physicians. If you are well trained in things like CBTi, ERP, CPT, PE, ACT, IPT, DBT, MBCT, MBT, schema therapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, then I will refer to you. If you peddle quackery like many/most of the therapists around here, I won't accept your clients in my practice, and I won't refer to you. Not surprisingly the masters level therapists in my area seem to prefer referring to NPs than psychiatrists.
I am in a HCOL area and have had several patients who are masters level therapists. One of them has done v well for themselves with a niche, charges $250/hr and is more than full (20 hours is considered full time for therapists in PP and they do 28 clinical hours). The ones that do voodoo and aren't very good seem to struggle to fill and take a lot of sliding scale, panel with insurance or join Alma or Headway etc.
I'm doing a therapy training course with an LCSW and he charges up to $350/hr for individual therapy so if you have expertise and are in a major metropolitan area, you can potentially do well for yourself. This is of course on the higher end.
The hospital program I used to work in had an LMFT in a quasi-leadership role and they made over 190k in his last yr working there along with excellent benefits (and they did very little). This was more than the psychologists (who you can imagine weren’t happy about it) and not much less than what I was paid as a psychiatrist. The director of the IOP/PHP program at the hospital was an LMFT and made a little under 170k in their last yr working there. Of course there are many more therapist jobs making $30-40/hr but giving a sense of the higher end opportunities in my area.
Remember that the 3 most important aspects of being a therapist in terms of effectiveness are empathy, genuineness, and expertise. The first two are things that one must naturally have (though they can be finessed with training). The latter is something that can be taught by taking on cases under supervision with skilled therapists who make sure you are actually providing a treatment that works in an authentic way with a strong therapeutic alliance. I am not aware of any good evidence that PhD/PsyD or MD psychotherapists are more effective than master's level therapists at providing evidenced based psychotherapies. It just happens that masters level therapists are more likely to offer pseudoscience.
