Oklahoma · BLS May 2025

How much does a school or career counselor make in Oklahoma?

Also called guidance counselor, career counselor. SOC 21-1012.

A school or career counselor in Oklahoma earns a median of $52,040 a year ($25.02 an hour), about $3,516 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 4,830 of these jobs in Oklahoma in May 2025.

Median pay · Oklahoma

$52,040A year, or $25 an hour.
Take-home a month$3,516After federal, state and FICA tax at 18.9%
Worth at national prices$59,242Prices here sit at 87.8 against 100
Against the nation19.1% belowNational median $64,330
What educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors earn in Oklahoma, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$38,100$18
25th percentile$45,980$22
MedianHalf earn more, half less$52,040$25
75th percentile$64,430$31
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$81,630$39
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$56,830$27

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in OklahomaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$52,040
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$25.02
  3. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$3,516 a month at an effective rate of 18.9%.$42,198 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Oklahoma sit at 87.8 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$59,242
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $64,330.19.1% below
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 1.24 against the nation's 1.00.4,830
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $52,040 in Oklahoma, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$52,040
$35,000$85,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$52,040
Net 81%
Fed 8%
OK 3%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$42,198After all taxes
Monthly deposit$3,516Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$1,623Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate18.9%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$4,065 / yr
Oklahoma state income tax$1,796 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$3,981 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $52,040 is worth in Oklahoma

Prices in Oklahoma sit at 87.8 against a national average of 100, so $52,040 earned here buys what $59,242 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 62.8 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Oklahoma takes in $65,039, so this occupation's median is 0.8 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 24% more concentrated in Oklahoma than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for school or career counselors in Oklahoma

Oklahoma ranks 50 of 51 states by median pay for school or career counselors, among the lowest-paying in the country.

Rents in Oklahoma index at 62.8 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 87.8, a gap of -25.1 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

Prices in Oklahoma index at 87.8 (U.S. = 100), so the $52,040 median buys roughly what $59,242 would at national prices, $7,202 more.

Common questions

School or Career Counselor pay in Oklahoma, answered

How much does a school or career counselor make in Oklahoma?

The median wage for school or career counselors in Oklahoma is $52,040 a year, or $25.02 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average school or career counselor salary in Oklahoma?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for school or career counselors in Oklahoma is $56,830 a year. The median is $52,040.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for a school or career counselor in Oklahoma?

The median hourly wage is $25.02. At a full-time year that lines up with about $52,040 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for a school or career counselor in Oklahoma?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Oklahoma, the lowest-paid 10% of school or career counselors earn under $38,100 a year and a quarter earn under $45,980 ($18.32 and $22.10 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for a school or career counselor in Oklahoma?

The overall salary range for school or career counselors in Oklahoma spans from $38,100 for the bottom 10% to $81,630 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $45,980 and $64,430 a year, with the overall median at $52,040.

What is the take-home pay for a school or career counselor in Oklahoma?

On the median wage of $52,040, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $42,198 a year, or roughly $3,516 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 18.9%.

Oklahoma takes $1,796 of it in state income tax.

How much does a school or career counselor make a month in Oklahoma?

On the median annual salary of $52,040, estimated take-home pay is roughly $3,516 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,623 net.

Do school or career counselors earn more in Oklahoma than in the rest of the country?

No. The median in Oklahoma is 19.1% below the national median of $64,330.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Oklahoma sit at 87.8 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $52,040 a good salary in Oklahoma?

It is 0.8 times the median household income of $65,039. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Oklahoma run at 87.8 against a national average of 100, with rents at 62.8, so $52,040 here buys about what $59,242 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid school or career counselors earn in Oklahoma?

The top tenth earn $81,630 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $38,100.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Oklahoma someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many school or career counselors are there in Oklahoma?

The survey counted 4,830 of these jobs in Oklahoma for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 24% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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