Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
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Overview
Advise and assist students and provide educational and vocational guidance services.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($45K): General Education
Largest undergraduate program (23.1% of workers): Psychology
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Titles for this career often contain these words
CounselorCareerAdvisorSpecialistStudentSchoolCoordinatorGuidanceEmploymentDevelopmentVocationalCoachConsultantAdviserServicesTransitionEducationalJobOffenderAcademicDeveloperEducationHighAdmissionsAdultArticulationOfficerFacilitatorTechnicalChildCollegeCurriculumElementaryTrainerTrainingEnrollmentExtensionCourseForeignFutureFarmersAmericaFFAInternationalInternshipLifeSkillsOESRetentionWorkforceOWDSOutplacementPlacementPupilPersonnelWorkerResidenceResumeWriterAdjustmentSuccessSupportStudentsOkayWithoutDrugsAlcoholSODAStudyAbroadTeacherEvaluatorExaminerRehabilitation
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Responsibilities and activities

School counselors typically do the following:

  • Evaluate students’ abilities and interests through aptitude assessments, interviews, and individual planning
  • Identify issues that affect school performance, such as poor classroom attendance rates
  • Help students understand and overcome social or behavioral problems through classroom guidance lessons and counseling
  • Counsel individuals and small groups on the basis of student and school needs
  • Work with students to develop skills, such as organizational and time management abilities and effective study habits
  • Help students create a plan to achieve academic and career goals
  • Collaborate with teachers, administrators, and parents to help students succeed
  • Teach students and school staff about specific topics, such as bullying, drug abuse, and planning for college or careers after graduation
  • Maintain records as required
  • Report possible cases of neglect or abuse and refer students and parents to resources outside the school for additional support

The specific duties of school counselors vary with the ages of their students.

Elementary school counselors focus on helping students develop certain skills, such as those used in decisionmaking and studying, that they need in order to be successful in their social and academic lives. School counselors meet with parents or guardians to discuss their child’s strengths and weaknesses, and any special needs and behavioral issues that the child might have. School counselors also work with teachers and administrators to ensure that the curriculum addresses both the developmental and academic needs of students.

Middle school counselors work with school staff, parents, and the community to create a caring, supportive environment for students to achieve academic success. They help the students develop the skills and strategies necessary to succeed academically and socially.

High school counselors advise students in making academic and career plans. Many help students overcome personal issues that interfere with their academic development. They help students choose classes and plan for their lives after graduation. Counselors provide information about choosing and applying for colleges, training programs, financial aid, and internships and apprenticeships. They may present career workshops to help students search and apply for jobs, write résumés, and improve their interviewing skills.

Career counselors typically do the following:

  • Use aptitude and achievement assessments to help clients evaluate their interests, skills, and abilities
  • Evaluate clients’ background, education, and training, to help them develop realistic goals
  • Guide clients through making decisions about their careers, such as choosing a new profession and the type of degree to pursue
  • Help clients learn job search skills, such as interviewing and networking
  • Assist clients in locating and applying for jobs, by teaching them strategies that will be helpful in finding openings and writing a résumé
  • Advise clients on how to resolve problems in the workplace, such as conflicts with bosses or coworkers
  • Help clients select and apply for educational programs, to obtain the necessary degrees, credentials, and skills

Career counselors work with clients at various stages of their careers. Some work in colleges, helping students choose a major or determine the jobs they are qualified for with their degrees. Career counselors also help people find and get jobs by teaching them job search, résumé writing, and interviewing techniques.

Career counselors also work with people who have already entered the workforce. These counselors develop plans to improve their clients’ current careers. They also provide advice about entering a new profession or helping to resolve workplace issues.

Some career counselors work in outplacement firms and assist laid-off workers with transitioning into new jobs or careers.

Salary
Median salary: $58,120 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $45,080 and $75,920.
$58K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
$51K$54K$54K$54K$53K$52K$44K$38K$26K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
Number employed
010K20K30K40K50K20-2425-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-64
About Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
  • High Conflict Frequency (89%)
  • Unpleasant or Angry People (75%)
  • Time Pressure (48%)
  • Responsible for Others' Health (41%)
  • Physically Aggressive People (36%)
  • Consequence of Error (34%)
SOURCES:
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Analytical skills
School and career counselors interpret assessments to match interests and abilities with potential careers. 
Compassion
School and career counselors often work with people who are dealing with stressful and difficult situations, so they must be compassionate and empathize with their clients and students.
Interpersonal skills
School and career counselors must be able to work with people of all backgrounds and personalities. They spend most of their time working directly with clients, students, or other professionals and need to form and maintain good working relationships with them.
Listening skills
School and career counselors need good listening skills. They need to give their full attention to students and clients in order to understand their problems.
Speaking skills
School and career counselors must communicate effectively with clients and students. They should express ideas and information in a way that their clients and students understand easily.
Injury and Illness
About 27 educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 58% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
Sprains, strains, tears
Soreness and pain
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors typically hold a master's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors

Nearly all states and the District of Columbia require school counselors to have a master’s degree in school counseling or a related field. Degree programs teach counselors the essential skills of the job, such as how to foster academic development; conduct group and individual counseling; work with parents, school staff, and community organizations; and use data to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive school counseling programs for all students. These programs often require counselors to complete an internship.

Some employers prefer that career counselors have a master’s degree in counseling with a focus on career development. Career counseling programs prepare students to assess clients’ skills and interests and to teach career development techniques.

Many master’s degree programs in counseling require students to have a period of supervised experience, such as an internship.

Details: Licensing and certification recommended for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors

Public school counselors must have a state-issued credential to practice. This credential can be called a certification, a license, or an endorsement, depending on the state. Licensure or certification typically requires a master’s degree in school counseling, an internship or practicum completed under the supervision of a licensed professional school counselor, and successful completion of a test.

Some states require applicants to have classroom teaching experience, or to hold a teaching license, prior to being certified. Most states require a criminal background check as part of the credentialing process. Information about requirements for each state is available from the American School Counselor Association.

Some states require licensure for career counselors; check with your state for more information. Contact information for state regulating boards is available from the National Board for Certified Counselors.

Education level of Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
About 61% of educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors have a graduate-level education, and 85% have at least a bachelor's degree.
Education attained by educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Top college degrees
Here are the top college degrees held by the 82% of people in this job who have at least a bachelor's degree. Some of degrees may link to multiple programs due to the way Census classifies college majors. Click on a program to learn more about career opportunities for people who major in that field.
  1. Psychology
  2. Education
  3. Social Work
  4. Sociology
  5. Counseling Psychology
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College majors held by educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors
This table shows the college majors held by people working as educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors. If you see "**" before the name of a degree/program, that means this field is one that the Department of Education believes is preparatory for this career. However, you can see from this list that those recommendations are far from your only path to this job!
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
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Career salary (tail) versus Career/Major salary (dot)
Does the bachelor's-only salary rise or fall with this major?
$30K$58K
Salary for bachelor's-only
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Salary for all workers
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Education for Career and Major
Bachelor's
Master's
Professional
Doctorate
Workers with this career/major
Percentage in this career with this major
Not so much?
The link between degrees and this career
With the following sankey diagram, you can follow the top ten bachelor's degrees held by people working as educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, and then, in turn, you can see the 10 occupations that hire the most of each degree's graduates. We hope this provides ideas for similar jobs and similar fields of study.
Expand degrees
PsychologyGeneral EducationSocial WorkSociologyCounseling Psycholog...Elementary EducationBusiness Management ...English Language and...CommunicationsCriminal Justice and...All other degreesThis jobTop 10 majors
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors per 1,000 workers (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
  • In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
  • Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors.
We hope the ratio allows perspective about how salaries may compare to the regional cost-of-living.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors (ACS)
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Employment
18% of Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 18% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 63% of careers.
18%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
$47K$57K$50K$42K$43K$58K$55K$48K$0$20,000$40,000$60,000$80,000$100,000$120,000Self-employed not incorporatedSelf-employed incorporatedFederal governmentState governmentLocal governmentPrivate not-for-profitPrivate for-profitAll
Gender
Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors and gender
With 76% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 85% of careers.
Gender of Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors
Men (24%)
Women (76%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
$47K$48K$0$100K$200K$300KWomenMen
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
76%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women by 19%. The situation is better for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, with the median salary for men only 0.7% higher than the median salary for women.
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Race/Origin
Race and origin of Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors.
Race/origin of educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors
White (71% )
Black (19% )
Other (3% )
Multiracial (3% )
Asian (3% )
Hispanic (1% )
American Indian (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
$40K$43K$43K$44K$48K$49K$49K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100KAmerican IndianOtherBlackMultiracialHispanicWhiteAsian
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.