School Counselor Salary and Career Outlook

Careers in school counseling are some of the most unique and rewarding in public education. School counselors work with all stakeholders in the educational ecosystem to help create a culture of success, safety, and learning for students, their families, and the educators who serve them.

Some of the primary responsibilities of a school counselor include:

• Providing social and emotional support for students in individual and group sessions.
• Aiding students with issues related to study skills and time management.
• Encouraging and fostering student strengths (both in and out of the classroom).
• Collaborating with families and other school faculty to address individual student needs.
• Helping students and families respond to crises.
• Identifying students’ social, behavioral or learning issues.
• Working as part of a child study team to develop and implement interventions for students with special needs and other at-risk students.
• Coordinating support services between the school, home, and outside agencies.
• Offering professional input on school and district policies.

This wide variety of responsibilities shows that becoming a school counselor is a career choice with the potential to make a positive difference every day.

What Can You Do With a School Counselor Degree?

Becoming a school counselor requires earning a master’s degree in school counseling. School counseling is a career that varies depending on the population a counselor serves. Providing support to younger students and their stakeholders is very different from supporting older, college- and career-bound students.

In some school districts, a counselor may be asked to serve a large span of ages; however, it is more common for counselors to focus on specific age groups.

How Much Do School Counselors Make?

Most public schools include school counselors as part of their certificated faculty contracts. As such, school counselor salaries and tenure eligibility (where applicable) typically follow the same salary guides and policies as teachers and other certificated staff.

One major exception is 12-month counseling positions. It is common practice for schools to retain some or all of their counseling staff through the summer to complete tasks like child study team evaluations, individualized education programs (IEPs), student matriculation and scheduling. In these cases, counselors are typically compensated at a higher rate than similarly experienced 10-month employees are.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for school counselors in May 2024 was $65,140. It should be noted that this figure combines both 10- and 12-month school counselor salaries.

School Counselor Career Outlook

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job outlook for school counselors includes an expected 4% growth in the employment of counselors over the 10-year span from 2024–2034. This is about the same as the average projected growth rate of all U.S. careers. As student enrollments rise, demand for school counselors will increase.

10 Top-Paying Cities for School Counselors

Keeping in mind the economy, cost of living, and lifestyle of different cities, the following are the top-paying metro and nonmetro areas for careers in school counseling according to the BLS (which is categorized as ‘school psychologists’):

5 Highest-Paying States for School Counseling Careers

State Median Salary Data for School and Career Counselors

1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024). Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2024: 21-1012 Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors. Washington, DC: Author.