Learn about the types of people who become drug and alcohol counselors. This page goes into detail about the employment, gender, and ethnic ratios of the workplace.


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Employment Type Mix, 2024

78% of drug and alcohol counselors work in full-time roles while 22% work part-time.

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Gender Mix By Career Interest, 2024

This graph shows the distribution of females and males that are interested in becoming a drug and alcohol counselor. Four or five star ratings on CareerExplorer indicate interest.

More women than men are interested in becoming drug and alcohol counselors at a ratio of 1.83 to 1.

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Actual Gender Mix, 2024

71% of drug and alcohol counselors are female and 29% are male.

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Gender Bias, 2024

This is one of the most compelling statistics we collect. Gender bias shows the difference between gender interest in being a drug and alcohol counselor and the actual gender mix of people in the career.

If there is a significant difference, then it means there is a gender imbalance between those interested in becoming a drug and alcohol counselor and those who end up becoming one.

In this case there are more men interested in becoming a drug and alcohol counselor than those actually working as one. It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but there are likely various forces at play, from changing interests over time to societal norms and biases.

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Ethnic Mix, 2019

The largest ethnic group of drug and alcohol counselors are White, making up 71% of the population. The next highest segments are Black or African American and Other, making up 8% and 7% respectively.