Therapy Market Size

Delivered November 14th, 2019. Contributors: Kiersten M.

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Mental Health Therapy TAM

In the United States, the number of adults diagnosed with and seeking treatment for mental health conditions has grown by about 2.15 percent annually over the last several years. Assuming a similar growth rate over the next 10 years, there is projected to be a total addressable market (TAM) of 60.15 million adults with mental illness by 2029. 
Addressable MarketAs of 2017, just under 20 percent of the adult population in the United States was diagnosed with at least one mental health condition, representing a total addressable market of 46.6 million adults. 
Of that number, only 41 percent — or about 19.1 million people — sought treatment. 
In 2018, the number of U.S. adults diagnosed with a mental health condition grew to 47.6 million, representing a growth of 2.15 percent. 
Assuming a similar growth rate of 2.15 percent annually, the TAM for the mental health therapy industry will reach about 60.15 million by 2029.
Assuming a similar rate of people — 41 percent — seeks mental health treatment, this means that there will be about 24.67 million American adults seeking mental health treatment, including mental health therapy, by 2029. 
Additional Findings Anxiety and depression are the most commonly-diagnosed mental health conditions in the United States and globally. 
 Specifically, 3.76 percent of the adult population was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
A further 3.44 percent of adults were diagnosed with depression. 
Research Strategy and CalculationsWe began our research by reviewing reports and data published by health and mental health organizations such as NAMI, WHO, and AHA. Specifically, we reviewed reports and studies published by these and other similar organizations to determine whether they'd published any information on the number of people seeking or in need of mental health therapy in the United States. In this way, we were able to determine the current number of people diagnosed with a mental health condition in the United States, as well as similar data for 2017. Unfortunately however, this method did not provide us with data projected out to the future or, more specifically, to 2029. 

We next turned to industry and employment organizations, in the hope that such data would be published in connection with projected employment rates for the relevant time period. However, while we were able to find the projected employment rate via the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), neither they nor any other similar site published the projected TAM for the industry. 

Finally, we calculated an estimated growth rate based on the percent change in population data from 2017 to 2018. We then applied this percentage — 2.15 percent annually — to the next 10 years in order to determine an estimated TAM for the year 2029. Specifically, we found that the number of adults diagnosed with a mental health condition grew by 2.15 percent from 2017 to 2018. We then calculated the total growth should the addressable market continue to grow at an annual rate of 2.15 percent from 2018 to 2029. The findings of these calculations have been outlined above. 

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Speech Therapy Employment Statistics

The industry for speech therapists is growing in the United States, and is anticipated to continue doing so over the next 10 years because of a combination of increased autism and speech and language disorders, as well as improvements in medical treatment which have resulted in more victims of stroke and trauma surviving and needing treatment. 
Industry Size and ProjectionsAs of 2018, there were 153,700 speech therapists (known professionally as "speech pathologists") working in the United States. 
The industry's employment rate is anticipated to grow by 27 percent over the next 10 years between 2018 and 2028, a rate which the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines as "much faster than average". 
Specifically, by 2028 there are anticipated to be approximately 153,700 people working as speech pathologists in the United States. 
Industry DriversThe significant growth projected to occur over the next decade is attributed, in part, to "increased awareness of speech and language disorders, such as stuttering, in younger children". Because of increased awareness and, as a result, more diagnoses, speech pathologists are faced a larger addressable market than in the past. 
Additionally, children diagnosed with autism often treat with speech pathologists "to improve their ability to communicate and socialize effectively", a vertical of the industry which is also anticipated to grow over the next 10 years. 
Further, the speech pathology industry is also growing as a result of medical advances which have saved the lives of "premature infants and victims of trauma and strokes, many of whom need help from speech-language pathologists".
Additional FindingsIn 2017, the market for occupational and speech therapists and audiologists was worth an estimated $58.4 billion globally.
North America represents .4 percent of the global market, with a share of $27.9 billion. 
More specifically, the United States "was the largest country, accounting for $23.4 billion or .4 percent of the global occupational and speech therapists and audiologists market".
Focused on speech therapy specifically, the global market is anticipated to grow significantly by 2025, with North America leading the market "due to [a] rise in [the] incidence of congenital disorders [and an] increase in [the] elderly population".

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Occupational Therapy Employment Statistics

The market for occupational therapists in the United States has been growing over the past five years and is expected to continue doing so over the next 10 years. This is largely the result of an aging population which intends to remain active over the next decade of their lives. 
Industry Size and ProjectionsAs of 2018, there were 133,000 occupational therapists working in the United States. 
The job market for this industry is expected to grow by 18 percent over the next 10 years, a rate which the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) describes as "much faster than average". 
Specifically, there are projected to be 156,800 occupational therapists working in the United States by 2028, representing an increase of 23,700 jobs. 
Annually over the next 10 years, there are expected to be about 10,500 new job openings for occupational therapists in the United States.
Industry DriversOccupational therapy is "an important part of treatment for people with various illnesses and disabilities, such as Alzheimer’s disease, cerebral palsy, autism, or the loss of a limb".
Over the next 10 years, the occupational therapy market is intended to grow "as the large baby-boom generation ages and people remain active later in life".
This generation will further be driving the occupational therapy market as such professionals often aid in the treatment of conditions such as arthritis and stroke, both of which are more common in older patients. 
"Occupational therapists also will be needed in a variety of healthcare settings to treat patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes. Patients will continue to seek noninvasive outpatient treatment for long-term disabilities and illnesses, either in their homes or in residential care environments. These patients may need occupational therapy to become more independent and to perform a variety of daily tasks."
Additional FindingsThe United States occupational therapy industry earned a combined revenue of $24 billion in 2018. 
In 2019, the market size remained somewhat steady at 24.3 billion.
The industry experienced a growth of 4.9 percent annually from 2013 through 2018. 
 More than 40,000 new occupational therapy businesses opened in the United States in 2018. 