How Much Do Counselors Make?
"Counselor" is three separate jobs in Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, and each has its own median: school and career counselors, rehabilitation counselors, and mental health counselors. BLS counts employees only, so anyone working for themselves is missing from all three.
A counselor can draw a salary from a school, agency or hospital, or run a private practice paid per session. We found no counselor who published a full year's income without also selling courses or coaching, so this page uses official figures and counselors' own published fees.
Your figure depends on which kind of counselor you are and who pays you.
Employed mental health counselors in Seattle earn a median of $73,580, 24% above the national median
Every US ZIP code is matched. BLS publishes a median for employed mental health counselors, one of the three counselor codes, in 521 of 528 areas. Census publishes one-person practice receipts for 2,204 counties. School and rehabilitation counselors are not in this tool.
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 21-1018 by area; Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 62133 by county; Census ZIP-to-county file; USDA rural-urban codes. No agency publishes self-employed pay by area, so the calculator uses the local pay level of employed mental health counselors in its place. 521 of 528 BLS areas report a median for mental health counselors; the other 7 use the state figure. Your ZIP code stays in your browser.
Alaska pays employed mental health counselors a median of $80,770; Louisiana pays $37,910
The first column is the BLS median for employed mental health counselors, one of the three counselor codes. The second is what one-person mental health practices took in on average, from Census, before expenses.
| State | Employed mental health counselors (21-1018), median a year (BLS May 2025) | One-person mental health practice, average gross (Census 2024) |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $59,350 | $56,403 |
| Highest five | ||
| Alaska | $80,770 | $80,511 |
| Oregon | $74,590 | $65,588 |
| New Mexico | $74,100 | $56,105 |
| Washington | $68,910 | $63,314 |
| North Dakota | $68,630 | $60,092 |
| Lowest five | ||
| Louisiana | $37,910 | $40,190 |
| Mississippi | $46,990 | $52,197 |
| Alabama | $47,310 | $48,082 |
| West Virginia | $49,430 | $49,385 |
| Tennessee | $49,580 | $58,412 |
| Most people employed in this job | ||
| California | $59,250 | $60,717 |
| Pennsylvania | $52,010 | $56,056 |
| Florida | $56,790 | $49,037 |
| New York | $59,450 | $71,574 |
| Texas | $62,630 | $49,624 |
| Illinois | $60,730 | $55,081 |
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 21-1018, state medians for employees only; Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 62133. Figures are for mental health counselors, one of three counselor codes; school and rehabilitation state medians are in the next section. Census receipts are before expenses and include psychologists' and social workers' practices.
School counselors' median is $17,480 above rehabilitation counselors'
The first split is your job code, and the second is who pays you. School and career counselors, mental health counselors and rehabilitation counselors each have a separate BLS median, and private practice owners are in none of them. The $17,480 gap in the heading is our arithmetic from the two medians, for employees only.
The $56,403 average is gross receipts, before rent, insurance and tax, and it includes part-time practices, psychologists and social workers. No public figure gives what counselors in private practice net.
Work out what a year of sessions brings in before tax
The price, sessions and weeks below are examples, so change each one to match your week. The result is what comes in before tax; subtract your own costs from it.
- Sessions or paid hours in a year$127,650
- Your share$127,650
- Card fees− $3,830
Example figures from the sources named, checked in November 2026. Rent, insurance and no-shows are not deducted, so subtract your own costs. With a ZIP code, the price follows that area's mental health counselor pay level.
Counselor license titles differ by state, and New York and Texas both require 3,000 supervised hours
License questions drew 87 phrasings on our chart and insurance questions drew 48. The title changes by state, and we found no source that compares pay by title.
New York asks for at least 3,000 clock hours once the master's is done, and not less than 1,500 of those are direct contact with clients.
A Texas applicant works under a Council-approved supervisor and spends at least 1,500 of those hours counseling clients directly. The minimum is 18 months.
California's board sets a minimum of 104 weeks for those hours.
Florida asks for two post-master's years with 1,500 hours of face-to-face psychotherapy, plus at least 100 hours of supervision spread over no less than 100 weeks.
Virginia's LPC residency pairs that client contact with a 200-hour minimum of in-person supervision.
Illinois names two licenses, Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC). We could not verify its hours, so we print none.
That is the national non-facility rate for CPT 90837, before local adjustment and by our multiplication. We found no private-insurer rate we could print from an official source.
CMS says mental health counselors are paid 75% of the amount for clinical psychologists. The $125.25 is our arithmetic and includes the patient's share.
The lowest-paid tenth of employed school counselors earn under $45,020, rehabilitation counselors under $35,060
This section uses the low end of the BLS pay range and the published fees of clinicians who are not yet fully licensed. A percentile shows where pay sits, not how long someone has been in the job.
BLS May 2025, employees only. A quarter of each group earns less than its figure. For mental health counselors, the 10th percentile is $38,940.
Whitmire Counseling in Texas lists an LPC Associate at $80, and New York Women's CBT lists an MHC-LP at $175. Those are two practices' own prices rather than a survey, and neither is income.
Measured by us in November 2026, from Google's US suggestions. We also counted 277 course or training phrasings and left them off the chart.
Counselor pay questions
If you run your own counseling practice, let clients book and pay online between sessions.
The free plan takes your first 100 bookings without a credit card.
- A booking page clients can use from your website or a link
- Each service with its own length and price: individual session, intake session, couples session
- A deposit at booking, or a card on file
- Tap to Pay on iPhone, to take a card in the office
Sources
Where every number on this page comes from. Official figures link to the agency that published them, and fees link to each practice's own page.
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors (21-1012), Rehabilitation Counselors (21-1015), and Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors (21-1018), national, state, metro and nonmetro areas, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employees only; the self-employed are not surveyed. Areas reporting a median, of 528: 522 for 21-1012, 384 for 21-1015 and 521 for 21-1018.
- Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 62133, national, state and county, U.S. Census Bureau Gross receipts of businesses with no paid employees, before costs and tax. An average, not a median. Includes part-time practices and the practices of psychologists and social workers.
- Stripe pricing, standard US card rate, Stripe, 2026-10-25 the card processor kiwilaunch uses; quoted for the 3% card fee in the calculator
- Press release on professional counselors' income, survey run by McKinley Advisors and sponsored by HPSO, American Counseling Association, 2024-05-09 An average, from more than 11,000 professional counselors and trainees. Survey year and mean or median not stated in the release. Employed and self-employed not separated.
- Physician Fee Schedule 2026, CPT 90837 (60 minutes), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2026-11-09 $167.00 national non-facility, before local adjustment, our multiplication.
- Medicare Mental Health booklet, MLN1986542, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2026-11-09 Mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers are paid 75% of the amount for clinical psychologists.
- LPCC licensing requirements, California Board of Behavioral Sciences, 2026-11-09 "3,000 total supervised hours, over 104 weeks (minimum)"
- Mental health counselor license requirements, NYSED Office of the Professions, 2026-11-09
- Licensed Mental Health Counselor requirements, Florida Board, 2026-11-09
- 22 TAC 681.92, Texas Administrative Code, 2026-11-09 rule text read on Cornell's Legal Information Institute
- 18VAC115-20-52, Virginia Administrative Code, 2026-11-09 Virginia Legislative Information System
- Professional counselor licensing, Illinois IDFPR, 2026-11-09 License titles only; supervised hours not verified.
- Rates page, Reflect Therapy, Houston, Texas, 2026-11-09 Individual 50-minute session: Shari Bingham, LPC, $185; Rebecca Self, LPC, RPT and Lauren Weiner, LPC, $210. The page says the practice is out of network.
- Contact and fees page, New York Women's CBT, telehealth, New York, 2026-11-09 Per 50-minute session: Kelsey Bates, LMHC-D, $300; Ariel Katz, LMHC-D, $250; Claire Eckstein Indik, MHC-LP, $175.
- Rates and insurance page, Whitmire Counseling, Texas, 2026-11-09 For 50 minutes: Sarah Whitmire, LPC-S, $130; Nicole Reglos, LPC, $115; an LPC Associate, $80.
- Fees page, Pivotal Counseling, Colorado, 2026-11-09 Danielle DeSalvo, listed under "Pre-Licensed Clinicians", $160 for 50 minutes.
Not tax, legal or financial advice. Pay and what you keep vary by state and city, and licensing rules differ by state. A tax professional who knows your situation can answer for you.