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Overview
Assess individual or family risk for a variety of inherited conditions, such as genetic disorders and birth defects. Provide information to other healthcare providers or to individuals and families concerned with the risk of inherited conditions. Advise individuals and families to support informed decisionmaking and coping methods for those at risk. May help conduct research related to genetic conditions or genetic counseling.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($76K): Biochemical Sciences
Largest undergraduate program (16.5% of workers): Treatment Therapy Professions
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Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
Genetic counselors typically do the following:
- Interview patients to get comprehensive individual family and medical histories
- Evaluate genetic information to identify patients or families at risk for specific genetic disorders
- Write detailed consultation reports to provide information on complex genetic concepts for patients or referring physicians
- Discuss testing options and the associated risks, benefits, and limitations with patients, families, and other healthcare providers
- Counsel patients and family members by providing information, education, or reassurance regarding genetic risks and inherited conditions
- Participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in genetics and genomics
Genetic counselors identify specific genetic disorders or risks through the study of genetics. A genetic disorder or syndrome is inherited. For parents who are expecting children, counselors use genetics to predict whether a baby is likely to have hereditary disorders, such as Down syndrome and cystic fibrosis, among others. Genetic counselors also assess the risk for an adult to develop diseases with a genetic component, such as certain forms of cancer.
Counselors identify these conditions by studying patients’ genes through DNA testing. Medical laboratory technologists perform lab tests, which genetic counselors then evaluate and use for counseling patients and their families. They share this information with other health professionals, such as physicians and medical and clinical laboratory technologists and technicians.
According to a 2016 survey from the National Society of Genetic Counselors, most genetic counselors specialize in traditional areas of genetic counseling: prenatal, cancer, and pediatric. The survey noted that genetic counselors also may work in one or more specialty fields such as cardiovascular health, genomic medicine, neurogenetics, and psychiatry.
Salary
Median salary: $85,700 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $74,060 and $103,700.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers
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
Number employed
About Genetic Counselors
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 genetic counselors who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Time Pressure (74%)
- Consequence of Error (48%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Genetic Counselors? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Communication skills
Genetic counselors must be able to simplify complex findings so that their patients understand them.
Compassion
Patients may seek advice on family care or serious illnesses. Genetic counselors must be sensitive and compassionate when communicating their findings.
Critical-thinking skills
Genetic counselors analyze laboratory findings to determine how best to advise a patient or family. They use their applied knowledge of genetics to assess inherited risks properly.
Decisionmaking skills
Genetic counselors must use their expertise and experience to determine how to share their findings properly with patients.
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by genetic counselors
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), genetic counselors 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 specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for genetic counselors
Genetic counselors typically need a master’s degree in genetic counseling or genetics.
Coursework in genetic counseling includes public health, epidemiology, psychology, and developmental biology. Classes emphasize genetics, public health, and patient empathy. Students also must complete clinical rotations, during which they work directly with patients and clients. Clinical rotations provide supervised experience for students, allowing them to work in different work environments, such as prenatal diagnostic centers, pediatric hospitals, or cancer centers.
The Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling accredits master's degree programs.
Details: Licensing and certification recommended for genetic counselors
The American Board of Genetic Counseling provides certification for genetic counselors. To become certified, a student must complete an accredited master’s degree program and pass an exam. Counselors must complete continuing education courses to maintain their board certification.
About half of the states require genetic counselors to be licensed and other states have pending legislation for licensure. Certification is typically needed to get a license. For specific licensing requirements, contact the state’s medical board.
Employers typically require or prefer prospective genetic counselors to be certified, even if the state does not require it.
Education level of Specialized Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers
About 66% of specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers have at least a bachelor's degree.
Education attained by specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers
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 64% 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.
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College majors held by specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers
This table shows the college majors held by people working as specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers. 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!
Major
Select any title to learn more about that degree
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
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Career salary (tail) versus Career/Major salary (dot)
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Salary for all workers
For people with this career and major
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Education for Career and Major
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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 specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers, 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.
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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 Specialized Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most genetic counselors? 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 genetic counselors. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where genetic counselors 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 specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers 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 Specialized Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers (ACS for all specialties)
Employment
14% of Specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers 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 14% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 55% of careers.
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 specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers and gender
With 62% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 74% of careers.
Gender of Specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers
Men (38%)
Women (62%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
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.
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 a little better for specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers, with the
median salary for men 16%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers.
Race/origin of specialized healthcare practitioners and technical workers
White (76% )
Black (13% )
Asian (5% )
Multiracial (2% )
Other (2% )
American Indian (1% )
Hispanic (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.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
