Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,652
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$11,978
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,047
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$58,630
Kept after tax
$46,652
Worth in national money
$48,047
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $58,630, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 8.86% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 257 among 484 occupations Maine publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $58,630, tax leaves $46,652, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $48,047 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $61,230, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maine ranks 41 of 51 for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, with a median of $58,630 — about 8.86% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 257 of 484 in Maine places educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors — median $58,630 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $46,652 retained, $48,047 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $61,230 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $82,460 |
| This salary | $58,630 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Maine | $46,652 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,289 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,676 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $55,348 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,236 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Maine earn under $58,630 and half over. The published range runs $45,300 at the tenth percentile to $82,460 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $46,652 take-home in Maine comes from $58,630. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 257 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,047 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 257.
- Figures are distribution medians for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,300 to $82,460; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $46,652, from $58,630, assumes a single Maine filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 257 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,047, worked from $58,630, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maine address, on work sitting at 257 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $61,230, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $45,300 at the tenth percentile, $82,460 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Maine sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $48,047 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $46,652.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Maine is $61,230. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,300 to $82,460) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $48,047 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $46,652 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.