Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,153
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$9,887
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,746
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$52,040
Kept after tax
$42,153
Worth in national money
$47,746
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Oklahoma. The middle earner gets $52,040. That is 50 of 51 states, and about 19.1% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 232 among 492 occupations Oklahoma publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $52,040 you keep $42,153 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $47,746 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $56,830, since top earners drag the number up.
- For educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, Oklahoma sits in the lower band at $52,040, ranking 50 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 19.1%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 232 of 492 in Oklahoma 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.
- Retained pay in Oklahoma is $42,153 after the full tax stack, from $52,040. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $47,746 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $56,830 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 | $38,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,630 |
| This salary | $52,040 |
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 Oklahoma | $42,153 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,994 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,473 |
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 | $49,748 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,990 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $52,040 as a midpoint for Oklahoma, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,100 and the ninetieth is $81,630 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Oklahoma the take-home figure of $42,153, from $52,040, 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 232 of 492 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $47,746 uses one figure for the whole of Oklahoma. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 232.
- The Oklahoma median of $52,040 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,100 to $81,630. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Oklahoma is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $42,153 from $52,040. 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 232 of 492 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $47,746, worked from $52,040, 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 Oklahoma address, on work sitting at 232 of 492 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 $56,830, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $38,100 at the bottom tenth to $81,630 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Oklahoma is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $47,746 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Oklahoma adds its own income tax on top — which is why $42,153 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Oklahoma is $56,830. 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 ($38,100) and the ninetieth ($81,630) 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?
Oklahoma'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 $47,746 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 $42,153 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.