Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between youth counselors and child care counselors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a youth counselor and a child care counselor. Additionally, a child care counselor has an average salary of $36,843, which is higher than the $36,754 average annual salary of a youth counselor.
The top three skills for a youth counselor include direct care, mental health and crisis intervention. The most important skills for a child care counselor are CPR, child care, and behavioral issues.
| Youth Counselor | Child Care Counselor | |
| Yearly salary | $36,754 | $36,843 |
| Hourly rate | $17.67 | $17.71 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 78,461 | 100,538 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 41 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A Youth Counselor's role is to provide guidance and interact with children or teenagers in need of care and counseling. The duty of a Youth Counselor is diverse, and it highly depends on the organization or employer. However, the responsibilities mostly revolve around establishing rapport with the youngster while trying to work on their issues, ensuring their welfare by monitoring their emotional and physical state, coordinating with families or other facilities, suggesting treatments, and performing crisis intervention if necessary.
Child care counselors monitor the progress of children who have behavioral, physical, and mental issues in between counseling appointments. These counselors create daily schedules for children that include field trips, play dates, and learning plans to ensure that children get the most out of their days. They use their critical thinking skills, organizational skills, and interpersonal skills to deal with children diagnosed with psychological issues and to coordinate with their patients' families. Most of the cases they handle are the abuse, bullying, and past traumas of children.
Youth counselors and child care counselors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Youth Counselor | Child Care Counselor | |
| Average salary | $36,754 | $36,843 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $49,000 | Between $28,000 And $47,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Jose, CA | Chicago, IL |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | New York State Restaurant Association | Washington State University |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Finance |
There are a few differences between a youth counselor and a child care counselor in terms of educational background:
| Youth Counselor | Child Care Counselor | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Psychology |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | SUNY at Albany |
Here are the differences between youth counselors' and child care counselors' demographics:
| Youth Counselor | Child Care Counselor | |
| Average age | 41 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 43.8% Female, 56.2% | Male, 34.4% Female, 65.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 5.9% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 3.2% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 13.4% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 2.7% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 15% | 10% |