Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,259
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$12,241
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,610
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$62,500
Kept after tax
$50,259
Worth in national money
$55,610
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Nebraska is 25 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $62,500. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 193 among 488 occupations Nebraska publishes pay for.
- Nebraska is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $62,500 the take-home is $50,259; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $55,610 would nationally. The average comes to $68,570, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Nebraska ranks 25 of 51 for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors at $62,500. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 193 of 488 in Nebraska 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.
- Post-tax income for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Nebraska, on $62,500, is $50,259 — equivalent to $55,610 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $68,570 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 | $45,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,160 |
| This salary | $62,500 |
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 Nebraska | $50,259 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,399 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,688 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $59,836 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,042 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Nebraska earn less than $62,500. The published range is $45,050 up to $100,160, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $50,259 take-home in Nebraska comes from $62,500. 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 193 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Nebraska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,610, the adjusted value of that $62,500 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 193 of 488 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Nebraska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $45,050 to $100,160. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $50,259, from $62,500, assumes a single Nebraska 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 193 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Nebraska, so $55,610 — the adjusted value of that $62,500 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 193 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $68,570, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $45,050 and the top tenth $100,160 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Nebraska sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $55,610 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; Nebraska then takes its own share, leaving $50,259.
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 Nebraska is $68,570. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($45,050) and the ninetieth ($100,160) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nebraska'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 $55,610 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 $50,259 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.