Los Angeles County / Public Defender / Psychiatric Social Worker I

Job-title file

Psychiatric Social Worker I

Assess client needs, develop service plans, and connect people with support resources.

17 employees hold this title in Public Defender. Median total compensation for the role is $122,383, below the department median of $178,093.

Employees: 17
Total payroll: $1.8M
Role median: $122,383
Agency median: $178,093
Comparison: Below

What the records show

Role pay distribution

Pay distribution for this role

$15,538$148,908+

Hover a bar for its range; click to filter the list below.

How total compensation varies among the 17 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.

Compared with the local labor market

Psychiatric Social Worker I pay vs. the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area

Across all employers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, the median wage for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers — about 9,380 people — is $78,410. Public Defender pays a median base salary of $95,713 for this role, 22% above that figure — about the 66th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Where Public Defender sits in the local pay range

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$43,840

$50,910

$78,410

$105,620

$139,550

Public Defender median · $95,713

The bar is the range of annual wages for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers across every employer in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Public Defender’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.

And across the country

Nationwide, the median wage for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers — about 132,810 people — is $60,280. Public Defender’s median base salary is 59% above that national figure, about the 85th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$39,740

$47,070

$60,280

$79,730

$104,170

Public Defender median · $95,713

Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA range relative to the national one.

Computed over the 54 of 60 people in this role paid at least $25,000in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.

Median total compensation for this role at Public Defender is $141,459, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

Compare departments

This role across Los Angeles County

Psychiatric Social Worker I is held in 12 Los Angeles County departments. In Public Defender, the median of $122,383 ranks #5 of 12.

Highest-paying departments for this role

Ambulatory Care Network

$146,418 · 1

Health Services - Integrated Correctional Health Services

$144,549 · 79

Public Health

$132,849 · 1

Alternate Public Defender

$126,245 · 11

Health Services - Community Programs

$118,373 · 5

Mental Health

$116,886 · 364

Los Angeles General Medical Center

$115,795 · 3

Olive View-Ucla Medical Center

$68,178 · 2

Health Services

$44,879 · 1

Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center

$28,251 · 1

Harbor-Ucla Medical Center

$21,739 · 1

Median total compensation for the Psychiatric Social Worker I role in other Los Angeles Countydepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.

Compare jurisdictions

Psychiatric Social Worker beyond Los Angeles County

This role is reported in 5 jurisdictions. In Los Angeles County, the median of $155,217 ranks #1 of 5. See Psychiatric Social Worker across all of Los Angeles County →

Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role

Massachusetts

$80,325 · 18

Tennessee

$73,110 · 49

New York Public Authorities

$63,429 · 9

Cook County, Illinois

$22,240 · 29

Median total compensation for comparable Psychiatric Social Workerroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.

Record list