How Much Do School Counselors Make in the US?
Working in the field of education is a selfless and noble act. However, no matter how selfless we are, most of us still need to maintain a certain quality of life to be happy and to perform our best at work.
That being said, let’s do some comparison and research into the school counselor or guidance counselor’s salary.
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The Dirt on School Counseling Salaries
School counselor or guidance counselor salaries are providing many with comfortable lives and a path toward retirement.
In addition, career mobility into higher-paying administrative roles is typically a smooth transition. This is seen by many as a result of school counseling preparation programs adapting to the demands of an accountability-swamped education system. The educational expertise of school counselors is seen as the key ingredient for future advancement in student achievement.
These changes have led to the production of school counselors with a greater understanding of management and comprehension of overall school district goals.
What Do School Counselors in the US Earn?
Most people believe you can either set yourself up for a comfortable retirement, or you can work in education. For school counselors, administrators and even teachers with advanced degrees, this is not the case. The following are examples of school counselor salaries and teaching salaries from various school districts across the country for the 2024-2025 school year.
Central Unified School District – Fresno, California
| Step 1 | Step 6 | |
| School Counselor Salary | $78,597.97 | $112,979.79 |
| Teacher Salary Class I | $62,282.10 | $77,226.40 |
Dallas Independent School District – Dallas, Texas
The base teaching schedule for education professionals in Dallas is between 187 and 191 days per year. As such, the salaries below reflect the base salaries for school counselors and teachers employed during these schedules for steps 1 and 7 of their educational careers.
| Step 1 | Step 7 | |
| School Counselor Salary, Class 1, 187/191 Days | $53,672 | $120,538 |
| Teacher Salary Class 1, 187/191 Days | $62,500 | $65,520 |
New York City District 75 – New York City, New York
| Step 1A | Step 8B | |
| School Counselor MA +30 Salary | $73,515 | $102,932 |
| Teacher BAC1 Salary | $61,070 | $81,022 |
As you can see, the school counselor salaries are significantly higher than those of credentialed teachers. The salaries above include “Class I” credentialed teachers – meaning teachers at the lowest level of teaching credentials – but Class IV teachers tend not to earn as much as school counselors at a similar level of experience.
Additionally, it’s significant to note that counselors in California earn more than counselors in New York or Texas.
School Counselor Salary by State
As of May 2023, the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated that the average annual salary for a school counselor or advisor was $66,990, with a median hourly salary of $29.67.
Based on findings by this organization, there were 327,660 professionals in America in 2023 working as educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors.
California is the highest-paying state for working counselors.
With 41,380 working school counselors in 2023, these employees took home an average of $85,820 by year’s end, earning an hourly salary of around $41.26.
Moreover, nine out of ten of the highest-paying metropolitan areas for working counselors are located in California. These are (in descending order of annual remuneration):
- El Centro, CA – average annual salary: $107,870
- Napa, CA – average annual salary: $97,340
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA: $95,520
- Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA: $94,570
- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA: $92,650
- San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA: $91,880
- Hanford-Corcoran, CA: $91,120
- Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA: $90,090
- Santa Rosa, CA: $89,800
After California, Washington, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Maryland offer the best compensation for school counselors (with Washington at the higher end, at $81,280, and Maryland at the lower end, with $76,250).
Additionally, counselors working in the Connecticut nonmetropolitan area earn a comfortable salary of $75,840 per year.
Master’s Degrees Make a Difference
No matter what field you’re interested in entering, it’s likely that having an advanced degree will be a solid pathway to a higher salary.
In education, professionals with higher-level certifications are automatically eligible for higher salaries, as is evidenced in the above section (“What Do School Counselors in the US Earn?”). Moreover, it’s quite likely that an advanced degree will be required for employment in a number of roles in education. (For more on this, read on!)
Do I Need a Master’s Degree to Become a School Counselor?
In the United States, it’s safe to assume that a master’s degree is necessary to become a school counselor. However, that doesn’t mean that one necessarily has to pursue a master’s degree strictly in school counseling – though those programs exist and are a solid option, particularly for applicants who are certain that this is exactly the path they’d like to pursue professionally.
If you’re not sure that you’d like to exclusively work as a school counselor, or if you’d like to have more options available to you down the line, having a master’s degree in a related field, such as counseling psychology, clinical mental health counseling, educational psychology, or even social work can be enough to qualify an individual for employment in this field. This can also leave the door open for different kinds of work in the future, creating more professional flexibility.
However, the upside to getting a master’s degree specifically in school counseling could be to make applications as a school counselor stronger. Demonstrating specific, extensive experience in this field is one very strong way to indicate not only significant personal knowledge on the topic, but also the likelihood that you, as an applicant, are the right choice for a long-term hire in this role.
Pursuing Social Work vs. Psychology: Nuances in the Field
As stated above, it’s possible to become a school counselor with a variety of master’s degrees, ranging from an MSW (Master’s in Social Work) to an MS (Master’s of Science) in Psychology, particularly if it has a focus like School or Child Psychology.
If pursuing work as a school counselor, these different degrees may share an outcome – employment working in an educational context with students, families, and teachers to help young people succeed within and beyond school – but can entail very different steps on the pathway to getting there.
For one example, master’s degrees in social work require licensure after graduation. This additional step is time-intensive, entailing at least one exam, many hours of fieldwork, and some fees along the way.
From Elementary to High Schools, Are All Guidance Counselor Salaries the Same?
Interestingly, no – and what’s more, there’s even a difference between what these professionals earn at public versus private schools.
Contrary to what one might think, school and career counselors working at public elementary and secondary schools earned more on average than their counterparts at private schools in 2023.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent survey of employees in this field found that the largest number of working educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors were employed at elementary and secondary schools, with a total of 162,610 professionals employed in this sector. Nationwide, these workers earned an average of $74,910 per year, or an hourly salary of $36.01.
School Counseling at the University Level
Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data, school and career counselors working at professional schools, junior colleges, colleges, and universities – both public and private – earned considerably less than their counterparts at elementary and secondary schools.
In 2023, these professionals at public schools earned, on average, $55,070 per year. At private schools, the salary was $51,760.
Based on the BLS studies, there were 85,280 working counselors at colleges, universities, and professional schools in the United States, with an additional 25,790 professionals working at junior colleges.
2024 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary and employment figures reflect state data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed January 2025.