There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a relief counselor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.33 an hour? That's $36,049 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 36% and produce 1,185,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What Does a Relief Counselor Do

There are certain skills that many relief counselors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed detail oriented, integrity and interpersonal skills.

How To Become a Relief Counselor

If you're interested in becoming a relief counselor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 62.0% of relief counselors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 10.8% of relief counselors have master's degrees. Even though most relief counselors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Relief Counselor

Relief Counselor Career Paths

Average Salary for a Relief Counselor

Relief Counselors in America make an average salary of $36,049 per year or $17 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $47,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $27,000 per year.
Average Relief Counselor Salary
$36,049 Yearly
$17.33 hourly

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Roles and Types of Relief Counselor

The role of a relief counselor includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general relief counselor responsibilities:

  • Provide supervision and direct care services to individuals with intellectual disabilities, mental illness
  • Provide support for a residential program serving adults with mental illness, development disabilities
  • Relief staff work at the residential programs with children & adolescents living with mental illness on a per-diem basis. These positions are on-call, as needed. Relief staff need to be available to work evenings, weekends,

There are several types of relief counselor, including:

Counselor

Role:

While there are several different types of counselors, in general they spend their time helping people overcome and understand specific problems. Although, not every counselor is going to have a couch, as depicted by TV, most do work in private office settings.

The scope of the types of counselors seems to be never-ending. From school counselors to family and marriage counselors, and even mental health counselors, people who go into this field have a range of what area they want to focus on.

  • Average Salary: $36,225
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Residential Counselor

Role:

Residential counselors work in social care facilities such as homeless shelters, rehabilitation centers, retirement homes, and the like. Their main responsibility is to maintain the structure of the environment or program and oversee the residents' daily activities.

Residential counselors are typically expected to have a degree in psychology, social work, or a related field. They keep an eye on the mental and emotional state of the people under their care and make sure everyone lives by the rules of the facility. They give a hand with transportation and come up with fun and engaging activities for the residents to do while spending quality time together.

As a residential counselor, your responsibilities do not revolve around generating profit, and this is reflected in the median annual salary of the position, which is $29,592. This is a bit less than half of what the average yearly living expenses amount to across the U.S. Caring for each other apparently is not the most lucrative business. It is, however, very rewarding on a personal level.

  • Average Salary: $34,117
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Youth Counselor

Role:

Becoming a youth counselor may be one of the hardest things you ever do in life. But not because the educational road to get there is long and strenuous. Rather, it's the day-to-day stuff that may get you down.

As a youth counselor, you'll spend a lot of your day interacting with children and teenagers. More times than not, these kids have been put through the emotional ringer. You'll have cases that deal with childhood depression, ADHD, and even abuse.

While it's a tough career, the work you're doing is so important. Watching those kids' mental health improve and being a support for them is especially rewarding.

  • Average Salary: $36,754
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Relief Counselor Jobs

Number Of Relief Counselor Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California1,252$45,999
2Massachusetts1,192$36,952
3Florida814$28,923
4New York689$42,254
5Pennsylvania589$39,399
6Texas551$38,111
7Illinois528$38,011
8Georgia399$28,320
9New Jersey383$34,667
10Washington363$44,797
11Arizona323$41,623
12Minnesota320$32,160
13Virginia311$30,264
14Maryland293$42,749
15Michigan273$40,584
16North Carolina261$28,252
17Colorado252$40,015
18Ohio249$35,782
19Connecticut248$36,089
20Indiana194$34,734
21Tennessee189$29,241
22Missouri174$38,837
23South Carolina167$28,051
24Wisconsin162$31,092
25Oregon154$42,803
26Iowa151$32,345
27Louisiana146$28,831
28Alabama108$33,815
29Kentucky106$34,795
30Arkansas75$28,040
31Oklahoma74$37,515
32Kansas73$36,763
33Idaho73$32,430
34Montana70$31,897
35Maine67$31,073
36Nevada65$34,765
37Utah64$32,276
38New Mexico64$30,253
39Delaware63$33,874
40New Hampshire59$35,934
41Nebraska54$33,521
42Alaska50$37,511
43Hawaii49$32,966
44Rhode Island44$40,949
45West Virginia42$35,184
46Mississippi42$29,526
47North Dakota36$39,732
48South Dakota31$37,827
49Vermont30$37,228
50Wyoming28$30,429

Relief Counselor Education

Relief Counselor Majors

Relief Counselor Degrees

Bachelors

62.0 %

Associate

15.8 %

Masters

10.8 %

Top Colleges for Relief Counselors

1. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,798

Enrollment

31,503

2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,987

Enrollment

18,946

3. Hunter College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,182

Enrollment

16,205

4. California State University - Fullerton

Fullerton, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,886

Enrollment

34,637

5. University of Washington

Seattle, WA • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,207

Enrollment

30,905

6. California State University - Dominguez Hills

Carson, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,942

Enrollment

13,871

7. University of South Florida

Tampa, FL • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,410

Enrollment

31,321

8. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

9. San Jose State University

San Jose, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,796

Enrollment

27,125

10. SUNY at Binghamton

Vestal, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,808

Enrollment

13,990

Top Skills For a Relief Counselor

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 13.8% of relief counselors listed crisis intervention on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and integrity are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Relief Counselor Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Relief Counselor templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Relief Counselor resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Relief Counselor diversity

Relief Counselor Gender Distribution

Female
Female
70%
Male
Male
30%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among relief counselors, 70.1% of them are women, while 29.9% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among relief counselors is White, which makes up 67.0% of all relief counselors.

  • The most common foreign language among relief counselors is Spanish at 59.6%.

Online Courses For Relief Counselor That You May Like

Advertising Disclosure  

1. Severe to Profound Intellectual Disability: Circles of Care and Education

coursera

This course is about caring for and educating children (and youth) with severe to profound intellectual disability. We use the idea of 'circles' to position the child at the center of the many levels of support needed. Around the child are circles of care and education - such as the parents, family, friends, caregivers, educators, health care workers and others such as neighbors, business owners and community members. Each one has an important role to play in the life of a person with an...

2. Essentials of Palliative Care

coursera

This course starts you on your journey of integrating primary palliative care into your daily lives. You will learn what palliative care is, how to communicate with patients, show empathy, and practice difficult conversations. You will learn how to screen for distress and provide psychosocial support. You will learn about goals of care and advance care planning and how to improve your success with having these conversations with patients. Finally, you will explore important cultural...

3. Crisis Intervention Seminar

udemy
4.5
(369)

The emphasis is on the development of fundamental clinical skills in the area of crisis intervention...

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Top Relief Counselor Employers

Most Common Employers For Relief Counselor

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Pine Street Inn$42,256$20.3213
2Transitional Services Association Inc$42,100$20.248
3Catholic Charities Health and Human Services$38,757$18.6314
4Victory Programs$38,363$18.449
5Peoples Services$38,354$18.4422
6Child & Family$38,239$18.386
7BHSN$38,090$18.316
8Mohawk Opportunities$37,677$18.118
9Vinfen$37,666$18.1113
10Carolina Youth Development Center$37,472$18.0233