For California therapists · 2026 rates
Running a practice is a second job nobody trained you for.
Free tools for the business side of a practice — what you keep, what you owe, and what a client is worth. Your own numbers, nothing saved.
For LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, psychologists and registered associates — California only.
A $250,000 practice · $41,650 of running costs
Why this exists
Four questions nobody covered in grad school.
The answers exist. They are scattered across accountants who charge by the hour, forum threads written by people guessing, and blog posts that stop exactly where the arithmetic starts — and almost none of it is specific to California, which is where most of the difference is.
Should I incorporate, or stay a sole proprietor?A California therapist may not form an LLC. The real choice is sole proprietor or a professional corporation with an S-corp election, and it is worth a five-figure swing either way.Tax & retirement strategy →
What is this associate job actually paying me?Flat rate, share of the fee, or salary — priced against the unpaid admin and the supervision you have to sit in either way.AMFT job advisor →
How long until I am licensed?Four requirements close at different speeds, and the 3,000 hours is almost never the one that decides your date.3,000 hours calculator →
Can I afford to live here on this?Housing, transport and food by area, your student loan on RAP or the standard plan, and what is left over for savings.Cost of living →
It computes, it doesn't opine
Every dollar on this site is the output of a calculation you can follow, run on numbers you typed in. There are no illustrative figures and no worked examples standing in for your practice.
California specifically
Not a national calculator with a state dropdown. California has its own income tax schedule, its own franchise tax, and its own rule that a licensed therapist may not form an LLC — all of which change the answer.
How the calculators work
The calculators run in your browser, and your numbers travel in a link you can copy. A few links out to third-party services are affiliate links, tagged where they appear — they never change what a calculator here tells you.
Who this is for
Not sure where to start
Most people start with one number: what the practice actually pays them.
Everything else on this site is downstream of it. Put a rate and a caseload in, and the tax page, the growth page and the eight-location comparison all pick up the same figures.
What you can do here
Four tools and a research library. Each one answers a single question, and each one shows its working.
Tool
The main tool
What does my practice actually pay me?
Your session rate and caseload, twelve categories of running cost, self-employment tax and California income tax — ending in one number: what reaches your bank account.
- Twelve expense categories, itemised
- Self-employment tax worked, not estimated
- Employing associates, with employer payroll tax split six ways
- Shareable by link
Practice Simulator →
Tool
Once a year
Sole proprietor, or a professional corporation?
How much of your tax bill is optional. Solo 401(k), SEP and SIMPLE priced against your own profit, then both entity structures side by side with the Social Security cost included.
Tax & Retirement Strategy →
Tool
Pre-licensed
Is this associate job worth taking?
Flat rate per clinical hour, a share of the fee, or salary — what one placement really pays once unpaid admin and supervision are counted, and how long 3,000 hours takes at that caseload.
Associate Job Advisor →
Tool
When you have room
Where do my next ten clients come from?
What one client is worth over their whole time with you, which channels actually convert, and how many enquiries a month you need just to stand still against churn.
Grow Your Practice →
And things worth reading once
Field notes
The California Therapy Rate GapWhat insurance panels reimburse against what private pay supports, region by region, and the size of the gap between them.Field notes
Curious about working remotely?The same practice run from eight places — and the Board's own answer on whether you may see California clients from abroad.The California Therapist Toolkit
A growing collection of free calculators, research and plain-English reference — for practicum students, registered associates and licensed therapists working in California.
How it works
- Your numbers stay in the linkWhat you type is written into the address bar, so a bookmark keeps your setup and a link carries it to someone else.
- Your numbers travel in a linkEvery tool writes your setup into the URL, so you can send it to your accountant, your supervisor, or yourself later.
- The tools hand off to each otherFill in your practice once and the tax page picks up the same figures — expense category by expense category.
- Every claim is citedStatutes, IRS schedules and Board publications are linked to the source, not paraphrased. Where something is a convention rather than a rule, it says so.
Who makes this
One person, working in California, building the tools they wanted and could not find. It is free because the arithmetic should be, and because the alternative — guessing — is expensive.
None of this is tax, legal or financial advice, and it is not a substitute for an accountant who knows your situation. It is the arithmetic, done properly, so that the conversation with them starts further along.
Stay updated
New tools, as they land
What has been added or changed here, plus rate and rule updates that move a figure you rely on. One email a month.