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Job outlook for student services counselors in the United States
Student services counselor job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected student services counselor job growth rate is 10% from 2018-2028.
About 32,400 new jobs for student services counselors are projected over the next decade.
Student services counselor salaries have increased 7% for student services counselors in the last 5 years.
There are over 6,591 student services counselors currently employed in the United States.
There are 104,698 active student services counselor job openings in the US.
The average student services counselor salary is $41,175.
Are student services counselor jobs in demand?
Student services counselor job and salary trends over time
Student services counselor jobs over time
Student services counselor job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6,591 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 6,499 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 6,593 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 6,348 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 6,034 | 0.00% |
Average student services counselor salary over time
Student services counselor salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $41,175 | $19.80 | +1.9% |
| 2025 | $40,410 | $19.43 | +1.3% |
| 2024 | $39,893 | $19.18 | +1.6% |
| 2023 | $39,255 | $18.87 | +1.6% |
| 2022 | $38,653 | $18.58 | +1.7% |
Student services counselor jobs by state
Most common states for student services counselors
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 309 | 45% |
| 2 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 2,079 | 30% |
| 3 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 908 | 29% |
| 4 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 1,511 | 27% |
| 5 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 233 | 22% |
| 6 | Alaska | 739,795 | 164 | 22% |
| 7 | Delaware | 961,939 | 206 | 21% |
| 8 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 385 | 20% |
| 9 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,408 | 19% |
| 10 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 785 | 19% |
| 11 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 251 | 19% |
| 12 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 163 | 19% |
| 13 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 141 | 19% |
| 14 | Vermont | 623,657 | 116 | 19% |
| 15 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 108 | 19% |
| 16 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 1,062 | 18% |
| 17 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 1,010 | 18% |
| 18 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 629 | 18% |
| 19 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 236 | 18% |
| 20 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 194 | 18% |
Most common cities for student services counselors
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charlottesville | 1 | 2% | $46,092 |
| 2 | Phoenix | 2 | 0% | $33,066 |
| 3 | Atlanta | 1 | 0% | $33,397 |
Student Services Counselor job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of student services counselor experts
Louisiana State University at Shreveport
Southern Methodist University
Montana State University – Bozeman
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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Montana State University
Rutgers School of Public Health
Kent State University
Colorado State University
Emory University School of Law
Ohio University
University of Arkansas
University of Maine
University of Arkansas Pulaski Tech
Rocky Mountain College
Vanguard University
What will help Student Services Counselors increase their earning potential?
Emily Yowell Ph.D.: Psychologists should be aware of what others in their field are making for similar positions. It is important to ask for what your work is worth in an initial position to assure raises are based on a solid starting salary. Newer psychologists may also consider asking for an early review that prompts an early conversation around potential raises, bonus, or other job benefits.
Kacie Blalock Ph.D.
Associate Professor; Director, Master of CounselingLouisiana State University at Shreveport
Department Of Psychology
What hard/technical skills are most important for Student Services Counselors?
Kacie Blalock Ph.D.: It is important that counselors are able to effectively take notes and summarize progress, interpret assessments, memorize and recall information, and keep clear yet concise records.
John Potter
Clinical Associate ProfessorSouthern Methodist University
Department of Dispute Resolution and Counseling
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Student Services Counselors to find work opportunities?
John Potter: Anywhere. Let me unpack that word, though. Many of our graduates are in the workplace and study dispute resolution and conflict management to expand their opportunities with the skills they learn. So, wherever the work will be is where they will excel, or perhaps move on to another growth opportunity in another workplace elsewhere. Other students seek the degree and the skills that come with it to create a new opportunity in an environment that does not have a core dispute resolution and conflict management already in place. So, anywhere there is conflict, our graduates can excel.
How do you envision technology impacting Student Services Counselors in the next 5 years?
John Potter: Faster. Disputes and conflicts will escalate more rapidly because of the speed of information. And, information can be gathered more quickly to help disputants engage more constructively and sooner. So, people who work in this field need to think faster and act quickly, and those needs will only increase with time and technology.
Dr. Mark Nelson
Professor and Program LeaderMontana State University – Bozeman
Department of Health and Human Development; Graduate Program – School Counseling
What type of skills will young Student Services Counselors need?
Dr. Mark Nelson: I would argue that counseling, consulting, researching, problem-solving, and teaching skills form the top tier of a list for new school counselors. I would also suggest that creativity is an essential skill necessary to design, implement, and evaluate various aspects of delivering their school counseling program.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Student Services Counselors?
Dr. Mark Nelson: I believe that over the next five years, technology will continue to have its greatest influence on a school counselor's students or counselees and not on the way counselors in schools work from day to day. Students still congregate in schools where counselors interact and facilitate their career, academic, and personal development. These efforts will likely continue to be conducted in a face-to-face manner. However, technology and its ensuing changes do have a pronounced impact on the life of students. Consequently, these impacts will become a part of a counselor's work as they assist students. It seems that with the increase in virtual/digital elements in our society, people, including students, appreciate and value personal contact with others. At my university, we have found that the isolation experienced by students as a result of changes precipitated by Covid-19 has prompted students to appreciate in-person contact with each other and our teaching faculty members. It would appear that technology may promote recognition among people that interpersonal contact continues to be important.
What type of skills will young Student Services Counselors need?
Dr. Thomas Dearden Ph.D.: Indeed, the way we work is changing. The skills that young graduates will need are diverse. Transferable skills and soft skills will certainly be marketable. These include traditional crafts such as communication, but I also think the world expects more empathy from its employees. Young graduates with an understanding of racism, sexism, and environmental responsibility will become increasingly important.
What type of skills will young Student Services Counselors need?
Mariah Stopplecamp: These upcoming graduates will face challenges that most of us have yet to see. There are hiring freezes across industries, and many companies are remaining fully remote. Young graduates should be very advanced in their tech skills and be incredibly self-motivated because they will be most likely working remotely. Having a job force that can adapt and embrace the virtual working experience is vital to the success of the company. The more data analytics skills a young graduate can obtain is also a very big draw for employers.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Student Services Counselors to find work opportunities?
Mariah Stopplecamp: Right now, we see companies in larger metropolitan areas being the hubs of employment for recent grads. These are the companies that are large enough to survive the fiscal challenges that COVID has provided. These larger metro areas are working remotely, currently, and are providing recent grads the flexibility to stay located where they are.
How do you envision technology impacting Student Services Counselors in the next 5 years?
Mariah Stopplecamp: We have already seen a boom in the use of technology due to COVID. People are now proficient at virtual meetings, Zoom or WebEx, electronic signatures, and more efficient document storage and organization. In the future, hopefully, we will have a strong job force that can embrace and adapt to changes in technology. This allows industries and companies to positively grow and become more creative in their designs and problem-solving skills.
Claire Brown
Assistant Director of Student Support Services and Head of Career ServicesRutgers School of Public Health
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Student Services Counselors to find work opportunities?
Claire Brown: For graduates in any field, it's important to stay on top of which organizations and companies are hiring during the pandemic-with many employers reducing or pausing hiring altogether, the key to an efficient job search is knowing the scope of your options. It also helps to tap into your networks-former supervisors and colleagues-to see where your public health skill set might be needed now and where you can stand out. For public health specifically, the CARES Act has allocated billions in funding towards public health staffing and capacity-building for the short- and long-term across a variety of federal, state, and local agencies. While it's hard to say what specific positions will be available or when some of this longer-term funding will actualize, there's reason to hope that public health workforce opportunities will increase over the next few years in areas such as emergency/disaster management, public health informatics and data, telehealth and school-based health programs, and mental health and substance use services.
Dr. Janice Byrd Ph.D.
ProfessorKent State University
School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Student Services Counselors to find work opportunities?
Dr. Janice Byrd Ph.D.: COVID-19 and racial violence are global phenomena that cause many mental health challenges for students globally. Schools are scrambling to identify solutions to address the social/emotional needs of their students. Some are investing in curriculum related to Social Emotional Learning, Trauma-Informed Schools, or seeking anti-racism experts to join their staff in conversations.
This emphasis is also illustrated in funding opportunities that have been advertised for schools and school-based researchers to consider innovative ways to address the increased stress our students are under, given the ongoing issues mentioned. While COVID-19 will hopefully, one day, decrease, the impact will be present for decades. As for racial violence against Black and Brown people, this oppression has/continues to harm communities across generations.
I implore schools to lean on school counselors as trained leaders to guide responses to these crises and support students. Due to budget constraints at the moment, we may see a decrease in job postings, but once the economy begins to heal, we will need more school counselors - not less. School counseling graduates awaiting employment should extend their knowledge about instructional based technology that may aid in their facilitation of counseling tasks, examine their bias/stereotypical thinking so they do not harm their BIPOC students, and create toolkits of information that may inform how they foster the development of anti-racist cultures in K-12 settings.
We all must remember that students do not perform well academically if they are not mentally/emotionally healthy or do not feel safe. Because COVID, the mental health challenges that have arisen due to the pandemic, and race-based violence, which causes mental health challenges for many, are global pandemics, school counselors face similar barriers to finding jobs across the nation. In time, given proper professional advocacy by school counselors, we will be acknowledged as leaders in the plight to heal students, schools, and communities.
How do you envision technology impacting Student Services Counselors in the next 5 years?
Dr. Janice Byrd Ph.D.: Increased use of technology in school settings, I believe, is here to stay regardless of changes due to the nation's response to COVID. As school counselors and school counselor educators, we need to continue examining how parts of what we do look like in a virtual environment. I imagine educational tech companies will develop platforms that will help us complete tasks smoothly.
Most importantly, school counselors collaborating with instructional designers to identify meaningful solutions that do not require lots of money from schools or parents will be essential. For individual and group counseling tasks, school counselors may find themselves doing more Telehealth and/or increasing consultation with school-based clinical mental health counselors. Additionally, there is a lot of room for new tasks we can undertake as school counselors to support our students and school communities.
Leanna Biddle
Career Education ManagerColorado State University
Career Center and Warner College of Natural Resources
How do you envision technology impacting Student Services Counselors in the next 5 years?
Leanna Biddle: Within the field of fisheries sciences and management, the use of technology has offered great advancements towards conservation efforts and the fishing industry. Technology has provided new information to managers, fishers, and consumers alike, and, when done in a sustainable manner, has improved fisheries management practices. Globally, the emerging technology within marine fisheries will be hugely useful as, for example, remote data sensors and satellite internet will enable fishing vessels to access real-time information on sea conditions, helping fishers locate fish anywhere on the planet. The development of technology will continue to aid in enforcement as well, offering the ability to quickly identify species of fish with DNA technology to help stop illegal fishing. This technology will undoubtedly impact recreational fishing as well, allowing anglers to learn more about the water they are fishing and where fish are. Ultimately, all fisheries worldwide will benefit from better data collection as smartphones are ever-present, and global internet coverage is continuing to expand.
As it relates to job opportunities, I foresee technical positions increasing with need, like Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the need for GIS Technicians across our nation. An increase in job opportunities includes academic preparedness for students at universities, with the recent addition of the GIS Minor at CSU, as an example. I encourage students to seek minors or certifications that focus on these technologies to diversify their skillset and knowledge for future employment.
Natasha Pate
Senior DirectorEmory University School of Law
Center for Professional Development & Career Strategy
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Student Services Counselors to find work opportunities?
Natasha Pate: The Bureau of Labor Statistics' ten-year national projection for the growth of legal jobs is 8%. (This is the ten years from 2014 to 2024). States that showed greater than national average increases include Texas, Florida, and Colorado.
How do you envision technology impacting Student Services Counselors in the next 5 years?
Christine Suniti Bhat: The pandemic has already altered the way in which school counselors are engaging with their students. The importance of learning management systems and dynamic tools to interact with students online will continue to grow. School counselors will have to be prepared to deliver individual services as well as group and class interventions using technologies such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
This is something that we would not have anticipated five years ago. School counselors may also have to address issues related to isolation, loneliness, and excessive screen time, along with some of the issues that are related to the misuse of technology such as cyberbullying and sexting. Prevention (before problems arise) and intervention (addressing issues after they arise) are both important. Overall, health and wellness in relation to the use of technology will become more important.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Student Services Counselors?
Christine Suniti Bhat: It is hard to predict what the enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on school counseling graduates will be, but I think it will continue to be a job that remains relevant and needed. It is unclear whether the tremendous increase in enrollment in online schooling will continue once the pandemic has passed. Once it has passed, having experienced online schooling, some parents and students may prefer to continue to engage in online schooling.
Regardless of the setting, school counselors are charged to address the academic, career, and social/emotional needs of all students. According to the federal government website O*Net Online, the job "educational guidance, school, and vocational counselors" has been designated a bright outlook occupation in 2020, one that is expected to proliferate in the next several years.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Student Services Counselors?
Donna Graham: While Coronavirus will leave a mark on all our lives, it has uniquely affected college graduates. A time in their life that should have led to the celebration, optimism, and new beginnings was tainted by canceled plans, uncertainty, and at times, tragedy. As unfair as this may be, I believe today's graduates will rise above adversity and become more adaptive and innovative. Already characteristic of this generation, I also think the 2020 graduates will continue to be civic-minded and will look to work for companies with purpose who want to take action to make the world a better place.
What general advice would you give to a Student Services Counselor?
Crisanne Blackie: A first job is always exciting, so make the most of this experience by being willing to excel at your responsibilities, take the initiative, be curious and ask questions, be ready to learn, and do your very best. Networking with your fellow employees will help you to meet the staff and learn about the organizational culture. If you are working remotely, make sure you understand the expectations and implement your time management skills. If you are searching for a position, be open to all opportunities; consider an internship, project, or volunteer position to expand your skills. Your college or university's career center is typically still available to you after you graduate and continue to use its services for extra assistance.
Cassandra Woods
Director of Advising and Career ServicesUniversity of Arkansas Pulaski Tech
Advising & Career Services
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Student Services Counselors?
Cassandra Woods: The coronavirus pandemic will have an enduring impact on life as we know it, but graduates will feel the effect for many years. It is hard to predict how much of an effect when there are so many unknowns at this time.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Student Services Counselors in the next 3-5 years?
Lisa Wallace: Tricky, since I'm not sure what field you mean. I have chatted with, of all people, the Director of our Aviation program (such a hands-on area, not a lot of virtual, work-from-home options for commercial pilots!), about helping his students think about their virtual presentation skills - paying attention to the lighting, sound quality, the background, what posters are on the wall, making sure roommates don't barge in, etc. - with an increase in online education, whether we, as a college, want to deliver training that way or not, there will be an increase in virtual interviews - it was already going that way - so students and job seekers need to be prepared.
Dr. Tommy Casarez Ph.D.
Dr., Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic TheologyVanguard University
Religion, Undergraduate Religion
What general advice would you give to a Student Services Counselor?
Dr. Tommy Casarez Ph.D.: Opportunities come in many different shapes and sizes, but they are still out there. Whether you are seeking to land a job in education or the non-profit sector, you will need to familiarize yourself and get used to all things digital, for the sake of communicating effectively. The younger your student or service partner's mindset, the more digitally savvy you will need to be, especially in the classroom and in the non-profit world.