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Social & Human Service Assistants vs Career Counselors

Median pay is about $18k higher for Career Counselors. The usual entry education is high school for Social & Human Service Assistants and master's for Career Counselors.

marks the higher pay or growth. Education, difficulty and the AI rows depend on what you want, so they are not marked.

Social & Human Service Assistants compared with Career Counselors: pay, outlook, entry and AI exposure
MeasureSocial & Human Service AssistantsCareer Counselors
Pay
Median pay$45,930$64,330, higher
Entry pay 25th percentile$38,150$51,270, higher
Experienced pay 75th percentile$54,350$82,870, higher
Outlook, 2025 to 2035
Projected growth+7.4% Growing fast, higher+2.9% Growing
Openings a year48,90027,800
Getting in
Typical educationHigh schoolMaster's
Difficulty modeled2 / 52.6 / 5
AI
Displacement risk modeledModerateVery high
AI exposure modeled, percentile15th pct91st pct

Where the skills differ

Only Social & Human Service Assistants

  • Monitoring

Only Career Counselors

  • Active Learning

Both lean on active listening, speaking, reading comprehension, writing, critical thinking.

More comparisons

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Pay and outlook: BLS (OEWS 2025, Employment Projections 2025-2035). Skills: O*NET 30.3. Difficulty, displacement risk and AI exposure are modeled estimates. How these numbers are made.