Video Transcript

Host Question: In your experience, what range of compensation does someone with the master’s in counseling degree stand to possibly make? What’s kind of the entry level amount, and then what is high end that someone could strive for?

Guest Answer: Depending where they take their career, entry level, unfortunately, is quite entry level. There are some entry level counseling positions that are still on an hourly basis. Unfortunately, there’s also quite a few in mental health that are actually per diem. So I think entry level positions can be as low right now as like $40,000 to $45,000. I mean, that’s like quite low, especially requiring a master’s, but I’m still seeing a lot that are in that like $50 to $55,000 all the way that you can have a private practice and be making in the six figures or be using this to pivot into other more leadership roles within non-profit within higher education. So I would say a safe estimate is like $40,000 to $160,000 kind of is a pretty solid range.

Guest Answer: It depends on where you live too. I started making about $45,000 and then a couple of years into my career of about $53,000 and then top management, it was about $56,000. And then private practice, I’d say low end would be like $65,000. When you’re more into your career and you could go up to like $100,000, if not more.

Guest Answer: The [salary] range for counseling takes you from about $45k up to in the $70,000s. And that is all dependent on your level of education, the type of counseling that you’re into, the industry that you are using your counseling degree in, as well as just how long you’ve been doing it.