Counselors, All Other Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $76K, rent takes 33.9% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,646/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,500/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new counselors, all others typically earn — is $49K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,942/month. At HUD’s $1,646/month FMR, rent would take 56% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay is 50% above the national median — $76K here vs. $51K nationally.

Virginia pays $76K median vs. the U.S. average of $51K — that’s +50%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 94.79), the purchasing-power equivalent is $81K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $76,450 a year, that works out to about $37 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $49,030, and experienced counselors, all others can clear $166,960. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $4,857/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,646/month, which eats 33.9% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Virginia has a Regional Price Parity of 94.79 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median counselors, all other salary is worth about $80,652 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.