Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,217
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$13,383
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,040
Minnesota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Minnesota — 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
$64,600
Kept after tax
$51,217
Worth in national money
$52,040
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Minnesota pays this job around $64,600 at the midpoint, 19 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Minnesota, this sits in the middle: 243 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Minnesota costs about what the country costs, so from $64,600, take-home of $51,217 is worth roughly $52,040 in national money. The average comes to $69,080, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors the Minnesota median is $64,600, ranking 19 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors ranks 243 of 490 occupations in Minnesota by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Minnesota is near the national base, so for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, whose median is $64,600, the adjusted figure of $52,040 differs little from $51,217 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $69,080 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $47,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $94,100 |
| This salary | $64,600 |
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 Minnesota | $51,217 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,086 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,618 |
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 | $61,029 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,376 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 Minnesota earn under $64,600 and half over. The published range runs $47,870 at the tenth percentile to $94,100 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Minnesota the take-home figure of $51,217, from $64,600, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 243 of 490 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $52,040, the adjusted value of that $64,600 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Minnesota. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 243 of 490 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Minnesota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,870 to $94,100; 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.
- Take-home for Minnesota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $51,217 from $64,600. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 243 of 490 locally.
- This $52,040 adjusted figure, worked from $64,600, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 243 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 243 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $69,080, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,870 and the top tenth $94,100, so most people doing this work in Minnesota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Minnesota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $52,040 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; Minnesota then takes its own share, leaving $51,217.
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 Minnesota is $69,080. 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 ($47,870 to $94,100) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Minnesota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Minnesota'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 $52,040 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 $51,217 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Minnesota 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.