Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between youth counselors and program 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 program counselor. Additionally, a program counselor has an average salary of $43,820, 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 program counselor are developmental disabilities, patients, and community integration.
| Youth Counselor | Program Counselor | |
| Yearly salary | $36,754 | $43,820 |
| Hourly rate | $17.67 | $21.07 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 78,461 | 133,491 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| 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.
A Program Counselor is an essential part of a school's faculty. It's the counselor's responsibility to ensure that students are benefiting from the school's educational curriculum. This person is also tasked to help students resolve issues and problems that may hinder any educational progress. They are also part of the disciplinary team intended to instill good morals, ethics, and decency in students. The Program Counselor is one of the teacher or professor who has expertise or has a high educational degree in a particular subject or field.
Youth counselors and program counselors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Youth Counselor | Program Counselor | |
| Average salary | $36,754 | $43,820 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $49,000 | Between $33,000 And $58,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Jose, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | California | New York |
| Best paying company | New York State Restaurant Association | Russell Sage College |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a youth counselor and a program counselor in terms of educational background:
| Youth Counselor | Program Counselor | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Psychology |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | California State University - Long Beach |
Here are the differences between youth counselors' and program counselors' demographics:
| Youth Counselor | Program Counselor | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 43.8% Female, 56.2% | Male, 35.9% Female, 64.1% |
| 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, 11.3% Unknown, 5.9% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 3.2% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 15% | 15% |