Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,695
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$10,935
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,602
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$57,630
Kept after tax
$46,695
Worth in national money
$49,602
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- North Carolina is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $57,630, ranking 45 of 51 states — about 10.42% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in North Carolina, this sits in the middle: 229 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where North Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $57,630 you keep $46,695, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $49,602 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $56,710, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- North Carolina ranks 45 of 51 for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, with a median of $57,630 — about 10.42% 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.
- Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors ranks 229 of 489 occupations in North Carolina 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.
- After federal, FICA and North Carolina income tax, retained pay for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors on $57,630 is $46,695. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $49,602 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $56,710 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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 | $40,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,070 |
| This salary | $57,630 |
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 North Carolina | $46,695 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,486 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$293 |
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 | $55,401 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$354 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $57,630 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,400 and the ninetieth is $74,070 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind North Carolina's $46,695, worked from $57,630. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 229 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $49,602, the adjusted value of that $57,630 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 229 of 489 in the state.
- The North Carolina median of $57,630 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,400 to $74,070. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The North Carolina take-home of $46,695, on $57,630 for work ranking 229 of 489 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 229 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $49,602 — the adjusted value of that $57,630 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 229 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $40,400 at the tenth percentile, $74,070 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $49,602.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and North Carolina's own levy, $46,695 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($40,400 to $74,070) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $49,602 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 $46,695 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.