Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,228
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$11,652
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,490
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$60,880
Kept after tax
$49,228
Worth in national money
$50,490
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays this job around $60,880 at the midpoint, 31 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations Pennsylvania reports figures for, this is number 232.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $60,880, tax leaves $49,228, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $50,490 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $67,110, since top earners drag the number up.
- For educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors the Pennsylvania median is $60,880, ranking 31 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.
- In Pennsylvania's occupational distribution, educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors sits at 232 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors — median $60,880 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $49,228 retained, $50,490 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $67,110 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 | $46,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $97,810 |
| This salary | $60,880 |
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 Pennsylvania | $49,228 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,097 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,092 |
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 | $58,554 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,530 |
| 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 Pennsylvania earn under $60,880 and half over. The published range runs $46,200 at the tenth percentile to $97,810 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $49,228, worked from $60,880. 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 232 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $50,490 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. 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.
- Figures are distribution medians for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,200 to $97,810; 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.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $49,228, on $60,880 for work ranking 232 of 492 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 232 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,490, worked from $60,880, 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 Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 232 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $67,110 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $46,200 at the bottom tenth to $97,810 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. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $50,490 in national terms.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $49,228 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.
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 Pennsylvania is $67,110. 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 ($46,200) and the ninetieth ($97,810) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $50,490 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 $49,228 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.