Important Facts
College Vidya Team Dec 11, 2023 12.1K Reads
The popularity of psychology as a professional field is gaining momentum in the 21st century in India and across the globe as newer discoveries and insights about the psychology and workings of the human mind unfold. Psychology as a professional field is opening up many highly paid job options in the field along with opportunities to work collaboratively with professionals from other disciplines like computer science, machine learning and artificial intelligence, thus promising bright prospects in the future. The path to career establishment in psychology can follow multiple trajectories, each requiring a different area of specialization and qualifications.
If you are also a psychology aspirant seeking to develop a successful career in the field, then there are some lucrative professional domains that you can surely consider taking up. This blog brings to you the 10 most highly paid jobs of psychology as of 2024 along with important details like the educational qualifications needed to start a career in it, the key responsibilities associated as well as the average salary received in the field.
Continue reading to discover key details about the 10 highest paying jobs in the sector of psychology.
Psychology is a field in which many aspirants and students want to venture, both because of the rising awareness of its central role in human and social life and processes as well as the rising popularity of the discipline leading to greater pay and compensation. While the salary packages that can be earned in this discipline do not start at very handsome brackets in the outright start, the scope of escalating to higher lucrative packages with experience and credibility in the field are quite high.
As per the latest statistics of average remuneration in the field of psychology along with the prospects of career development in the job domain, here we have curated a list of the top 10 highest paying roles that psychologists can take up in the professional world.
Job Role |
Average Salary |
Minimum Qualification Needed |
Professor of Psychology |
INR 9.94 LPA |
|
Psychiatrist |
INR 9.67 LPA |
|
Military/Defence Psychologist |
INR 6.8 LPA |
|
Forensic Psychologist |
INR 5.93 LPA |
|
Neuropsychologist |
INR 4.86 LPA |
|
Educational Psychologist |
INR 4.85 LPA |
|
Industrial/Organisational Psychologist |
INR 4.14 LPA |
|
Clinical Psychologist |
INR 4.08 LPA |
|
Sports Psychologist |
INR 5 LPA |
|
Counselor |
INR 3.62 LPA |
|
Professorship in psychology is currently the highest paying job sector for psychologists to venture into. Psychology professorship can be taken up by professionals who have at least a Master’s degree or a doctoral degree in psychology. This job can be quite meaningful to those seeking to venture into the field of higher education and academia, and offers a vast scope of professional growth both as a researcher and a professor.
More details related to the educational requirements, average salary and required skills for this profession are provided below.
Required Educational Qualifications
Average Salary
The average salary a professor of psychology can earn is around INR 9.94 LPA with a few years of experience. On a long-term basis in this career domain, one can earn lucratively high salaries ranging from INR 15-20 LPA as well.
Key Skills
The major skills needed to thrive in the career of professorship include:
Job Role and Responsibilities
Key Recruitment Domains
Psychiatrists are medical professionals who specialise in the field of medicine for psychopathologies and are doctors who can explore professional opportunities in private and public sector hospitals as well as medical and psychiatric research institutions. Although one of the highest paying fields in psychology, psychiatry also requires a compulsory MBBS for an aspirant to pursue the career. Thus, only those aspirants who are doctors and wish to pursue a specialisation in psychology.
Via Payscale
More details about the field of psychiatry have been given below.
Required Educational Qualifications
Average Salary
The average salary that a psychiatrist can earn is around INR 9.67 LPA with 2-3 years of professional experience. With further experience of around 4 to 5 years, a psychiatrist can earn up to INR 15 LPA quite easily.
Key Skills
The major skills and competencies that psychiatrists need to thrive in the field are:
Job Role and Responsibilities
The primary job roles and responsibilities that a psychiatrist is required to fulfill include those like:
Key Recruitment Domains
Military and defence psychologists work closely with personnels from the armed forces to aid various activities such as their recruitment and selection processes, testing for their psychological competency, providing mental health services to armed forces and assisting in rehabilitation of retired army personnels. Defence and military psychology is also a prominent field providing vast scope for research as existing theories and conceptualisations related to this specific domain are limited. Hence, military psychologists can contribute meaningfully to the academic discipline of psychology while simultaneously earning an appealing salary.
Via Payscale
Find more details about the profession of military psychology here.
Required Educational Qualifications
Average Salary
Military or defence psychologists can earn approximately INR 6.8 lakhs per annum in the initial years of their career and progressively receive higher salary packages in the range of INR 9-10 lakhs per annum with a few years of professional experience.
Key Skills
The important requisite skills and competencies needed to thrive in the domain of defence psychology include:
Job Role and Responsibilities
There are a number of aspects to the job role of a military psychologist, some of which include:
Key Recruitment Domains
Forensic psychologists are associated with assisting police and other investigative forces get breakthroughs in criminal cases. Forensic psychologists can play a central role in crime analysis whether it is with respect to the analysis of the case, the criminal suspects, the convicts or the witnesses. With the rising importance of psychological underpinnings of criminal tendencies and behaviours, this field has grown in its scope to understand the mental competency of witnesses, convicts, suspects etc. The field is ripe with opportunities for research as well.
Via Payscale
Find more key details related to forensic and criminal psychology job roles here.
Required Educational Qualifications
Average Salary
The average salary that starters and freshers can make as forensic psychologists is nearly INR 5.93 LPA. With a few years of experience and repute in the field, one can increase their earning potential to up to INR 10 LPA as a professional.
Key Skills
The major skills and areas of expertise needed to thrive in forensic psychology include:
Job Role and Responsibilities
The job role of a forensic psychologist is quite fascinating and unique, and some of the major roles and responsibilities they fulfill as part of their work duties include:
Key Recruitment Domains
Neuropsychology is the field of psychology that is concerned with understanding the relationship between the brain and psychological processes and is closely associated with the discipline of neurology. Neuropsychology offers jobs related to assistance in neurological medical research (although an MBBS is not mandatory to venture into this field), research and development in cognitive psychology etc. Neuropsychologists often closely work with psychiatrists and clinical psychologists to achieve breakthroughs about potentially effective psychotherapies and treatments for psychopathology.
Via Payscale
More key details about the job role of a neuropsychologist have been outlined below.
Required Educational Qualifications
Average Salary
While the initial salary packages that neuropsychologists are likely to receive range around INR 4.86 LPA, with 4-5 years of experience, they can easily earn anywhere between INR 8-9 LPA.
Key Skills
The important skills that neuropsychologists must possess to prosper in this career domain are:
Job Role and Responsibilities
Some of the major roles and responsibilities associated with this profession include:
Key Recruitment Domains
Educational psychologists work towards the application of psychology and psychological principles in the field of education at various levels. A job domain with an appealing initial salary followed by opportunities for escalation, educational psychologists can work in a range of professional subdomains ranging from educational policy-making bodies to educational research, curriculum planning, school and college counseling etc.
Via Payscale
Further details about educational psychologists and their job roles are elaborated upon herewith.
Required Educational Qualifications
Average Salary
The initial salary that an educational psychologist can earn is nearly INR 4.85 LPA. Professional experience can help the psychologist garner higher salary packages.
Key Skills
A few of the most essential skill areas needed to thrive as an educational psychologist have been listed below.
Job Role and Responsibilities
The job role of an educational psychologist is concerned primarily by responsibilities like:
Key Recruitment Domains
Industrial and organisational psychology is the perfect job domain for psychology professionals who are seeking to understand psychology as operating in the work setting while also wanting to earn lucrative salaries on their job. I/O psychologists are those psychology professionals who can work both in basic and applied areas of psychology, i.e. contribute to the psychological discipline while developing industry-oriented solutions for clients. I/O psychologists get diverse job opportunities in sectors like consultancy, research and development, management, strategy formulation and so on.
Via Payscale
The important details related to the job role of an I/O psychologist have been enlisted here.
Required Educational Qualifications
Average Salary
Industrial and organisational psychologists can make nearly INR 4.14 lakhs on an annual basis and also earn up to INR 10 lakhs with experience in the field. The field is lucratively compensated in psychology and through networking, I/O psychologists can explore appealing job options.
Key Skills
A few of the important skills needed to thrive in this career include:
Job Role and Responsibilities
The primary job responsibilities and roles of an I/O psychologist can vary depending upon the specific domain they choose to apply to. A few of them have been mentioned here:
Key Recruitment Domains
One of the most popularly chosen careers in psychology, clinical psychology is a mental healthcare domain that caters to the provision of mental health services to those individuals facing psychological concerns and psychopathologies. Clinical psychologists are primarily employed in sectors requiring active applied solutions in the form of therapies, although they can still work to produce research pieces and contribute to the academic field. Thus, this field is the most suitable for professionals who are seeking to work closely at the ground level, dealing with clients and patients experiencing mild to acute mental illnesses and signs of psychopathologies.
Via Payscale
Further details related to the professional field of clinical psychology have been provided below.
Required Educational Qualifications
Average Salary
Clinical psychology is a decently paid field in India with an average annual salary of INR 4.08 LPA for professionals with nearly 2-3 years of experience. With further experience, one can earn anywhere between INR 9-10 LPA in this field.
Key Skills
Some of the essential skills that are put to use in clinical psychological settings include:
Job Role and Responsibilities
The role of a clinical psychologist includes various responsibilities like:
Key Recruitment Domains
Sports psychology is a field gaining rising prominence in the discipline of psychology and as an independent professional domain in the world. Sports psychologists can perform a variety of job roles similar to the ones described above, but to specifically cater to the needs of those involved in sports, such as athletes, sports teams, players etc. Sport psychologists can work in areas related to counseling, psychological testing, stress management, rehabilitation etc.
More details about the job role of a sports psychologist are provided below.
Required Educational Qualifications
Average Salary
The average scope of salary in the field of sports psychology is nearly INR 5 LPA as it is still a budding career domain in India. However, with professional experience and effective networking, sports psychologists can collaborate with sports institutes, counseling centres or even national sports bodies to gain highly compensated job opportunities.
Key Skills
Some of the important skills and competencies needed to thrive in the field of sports psychology include:
Job Role and Responsibilities
Some of the key job responsibilities associated with the role of a sports psychologist are:
Key Recruitment Domains
Counselors are mental health professionals who work with clients experiencing psychological concerns on a more chronic and day-to-day basis but not suffering from any mental illness. Counselors can work in diverse settings and with diverse populations. Counselors can work as school or college counselors, organisational counselors, marriage counselors, career counselors, career counselors, rehabilitation counselors and so on. They can work with populations from various developmental groups ranging from children and teenagers to adults and geriatric populations.
Via Payscale
Key details about counseling as a professional domain in psychology have been provided below.
Required Educational Qualifications
Average Salary
The average salary that can be earned by a counselor in India is nearly INR 3.62 LPA during initial years of career establishment. With around 4-5 years of experience and repute as a counselor, one can make anywhere around INR 5-6 LPA in this job domain.
Key Skills
Job Role and Responsibilities
There are a number of aspects that entail the job role of a counselor such as:
Key Recruitment Domains
After having considered a number of job roles in this field along with details of needed qualifications and their compensation, one might understandably wonder if a career in psychology is ultimately worth it for them as a professional or not. While any discipline might be more suitable for certain individuals than for others, psychology as a field is certainly worth looking for a career in. There are a number of benefits and professional opportunities that psychology as a field offers that may be quite meaningful and desirable to some professionals.
A career in psychology can be quite worth it for you if you:
Additionally, the career field of psychology also confers certain added benefits that make a career in it quite appealing to aspirants and professionals. A few of the major benefits of developing a career in the field of psychology include:
If you are someone looking to understand more about the field of psychology and developing a successful career in it, you can consider taking up psychology courses in the fully offline regular or fully virtual online mode of education. Formal education in the field of psychology can provide you with a strong foundation of psychological concepts as well as honed skills needed to prosper professionally, thus enhancing your employability to professionals and experts.Also Read | Also Read | What is Career Counselling
As can be seen from this blog, the job scope of psychology is budding in recent years in India and is only expected to escalate by leaps and bounds in the imminent future. There are a number of handsomely compensated professional fields that formally trained psychologists can venture into, with a bright scope of career escalation. There are a number of courses in full-time and short-term bases in the offline and online modes that can enable professionals to grow their skills in the field of psychology for better job prospects.
The most well-paid job field in psychology currently is that of professorship in higher educational institutions. The role of a professor in psychology has an average salary range of INR 9.94 LPA which can increase manifolds with further experience.
Job domains like psychiatry, psychology professorship, defence psychology, forensic psychology etc. are the highest paid in this discipline. The average salaries of these jobs are INR INR 9.94 LPA, INR 9.67 LPA, INR 6.8 LPA and INR 5.93 LPA respectively.
There is no specific bar on the highest salary that can be earned in the field of psychology. There are job domains like professorship and psychiatry that can provide opportunities with salaries ranging between approximately INR 9-10 LPA. However, the other fields of psychology like counseling, clinical psychology, child therapy, forensic psychology, defence psychology etc. can also provide considerably high salaries to professionals having at least 5-6 years of professional experience.
A few job domains like HRM, corporate jobs in domains related to OD, analysis, market research etc. can provide job roles after graduation. However, the earning scope in those job roles are limited and can reach a stagnancy after a few years in the industry. For being eligible to apply to high-paying job roles in the field, one must at least possess a qualification of a Master’s degree in Psychology. Doctoral degrees or PG certification courses can provide a further edge to the career of a professional in psychology.
Yes, the job scope in the field of psychology is quite vast and is recently growing and diversifying further. While traditional areas like counseling psychology, clinical psychology, child therapy, organisational behaviour and psychiatry are already thriving, there are up and coming areas like artificial intelligence, forensic psychology, sports psychology etc. which provide job roles with a scope for massive enhancement in the future.
Reputed institutions that hire professionals from the field of psychology include those like NIMHANS, IHBAS, AIIMS, Mindler etc. Other prominent hiring institutions like universities include University of Delhi, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, University of Calcutta etc. Corporate firms include those like EY, TCS, Accenture etc.
Government jobs in the sector of professorship as well as defence psychology, forensic psychology and educational psychology are some of the lucrative public sectors for psychologists to explore.
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