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, worked properly.
For LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, psychologists and registered associates — California only.
A $250,000 practice · $41,650 of running costs
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.
Updated when the rules move
2026 federal and California rates, each one carrying the date it was last checked against its source. When a threshold moves, the change is listed on the What changed page rather than quietly swapped in.
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, itemized
- Self-employment tax worked, not estimated
- Employing associates, with employer payroll tax split six ways
- Break-even, and what one more client adds
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
- Nothing on the page is illustrativeThere are no worked examples standing in for your practice. Every dollar shown is computed from a figure you entered.
- Free, with nothing gatedNo sign-up, no email wall and no tier above this one. Ads and a handful of tagged affiliate links pay the hosting.
- 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.