Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $57K, rent takes 38.4% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,528/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,200/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors typically earn — is $38K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,266/month.

Local pay runs 12% below the national median — $57K here vs. $64K nationally.

East Tennessee nonmetropolitan area pays $57K median vs. the U.S. average of $64K — that’s -12%.

The median is $56,910 a year, that works out to about $27 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $37,770, and experienced educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors can clear $76,210. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,981/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,528/month, which eats 38.4% 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.

East Tennessee nonmetropolitan area has a Regional Price Parity of 100 (100 is the national average). That's right at the national average. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors salary is worth about $56,910 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.