Texas School Counselor
School counselors in Texas earn a median salary of $67,900 a year (BLS, May 2025). The middle 80% of wages span about $42,380 to $101,830. Texas projects about 3,380 openings a year from 2024 to 2034. Certification requires a qualifying master’s degree, completion of a Texas-approved preparation program, and passing the state exam. No teaching experience is required.
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Texas expects about 3,380 school counselor openings a year through 2034, second only to California among the states. Below you’ll find what the job looks like under Texas law, what it pays across the state’s biggest metros, and which accredited programs can get you there.
What School Counselors Do in Texas
Texas school counselors work within a statewide framework, the Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs, which organizes the role into four components: guidance curriculum, individual student planning, responsive services, and system support. State law requires every school counselor’s program to follow the model’s most recent edition, so it shapes the job at every grade level.
At an elementary school, a counselor might lead a classroom lesson on handling conflict in the morning, then spend the afternoon with a third grader whose grades dropped after his parents separated, working with his teacher to ease the pressure while things settle at home. At a high school, the same role shifts toward course planning, college and career applications, financial aid deadlines, and helping juniors and seniors manage the stress that comes with it all.
Texas also protects counseling time in law. Under Texas Education Code Section 33.006, added by Senate Bill 179 in 2021, every district must adopt a policy requiring counselors to spend at least 80% of their work time on duties that are part of a comprehensive school counseling program. A lower percentage is allowed only if the district adopts a policy that documents the staffing reasons and sets the new figure. In practice, that gives you something concrete to point to when testing coordination starts eating your week.
Caseloads are the honest catch. Texas districts with at least 500 students in elementary grades must employ a certified school counselor at each elementary school and keep at least one counselor for every 500 elementary students districtwide. Smaller districts can meet the requirement through part-time or shared-service arrangements. The American School Counselor Association recommends one counselor for every 250 students. With a caseload near the state floor, you’ll often be the first adult to notice a student in crisis, coordinate referrals for more intensive help, and provide short-term support while that help is arranged.
Job Outlook in Texas
Texas projects about 3,380 openings a year for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors from 2024 to 2034. Employment in the occupation is expected to rise from about 35,120 to 39,890 over that decade, an increase of 13.6%. Nationally, the same 2024-2034 projections show 3.5% for the occupation.
Most of those openings won’t be brand-new positions. The decade’s projected increase works out to roughly 480 new jobs a year. The rest replace counselors who retire, change roles, or leave the field.
One change in recent years has widened the path in. Senate Bill 798, effective September 1, 2023, prohibits Texas from requiring classroom teaching experience for school counselor certification. If the old two-year teaching requirement kept you from considering this career, it no longer applies. You’ll still need a qualifying master’s degree, a Texas-approved school counselor educator preparation program, and a passing score on the required state exam. The Texas Education Agency administers certification under rules set by the State Board for Educator Certification, and the Texas school counselor certification page walks through each step.
School Counselor Salary in Texas
So how much do school counselors make in Texas? The median is $67,900 a year as of May 2025, about $3,570 above the national median of $64,330. BLS reports these figures for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, a group that includes school counselors along with career counselors and academic advisors, so read them as a close guide rather than a school-only number.
The spread is wide, from $42,380 at the 10th percentile to $101,830 at the 90th. In public districts, counselor pay usually follows the district’s salary schedule, so where you land depends heavily on which district hires you and how many years of experience you bring.
| Percentile | Annual Salary (May 2025) |
|---|---|
| 10th | $42,380 |
| 25th | $49,770 |
| Median (50th) | $67,900 |
| 75th | $82,460 |
| 90th | $101,830 |
Location matters too. Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston employ the most counselors in the state, about 7,980 and 6,480, respectively. Of the six largest metros below, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission has the highest median, while Austin and San Antonio both sit below the statewide figure.
| Metro Area | Median Salary (May 2025) |
|---|---|
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $76,380 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | $75,930 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $61,570 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | $59,090 |
| McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX | $80,390 |
| El Paso, TX | $70,810 |
CREST: how Texas recognizes strong counseling programs
The Texas School Counselor Association sponsors the CREST award, short for Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas, which recognizes campus counseling programs that meet its continuous improvement standards. Winning campuses receive a banner and are celebrated at the association’s annual Professional School Counselor Conference, set for January 31 to February 2, 2027, in Round Rock. The 2026 application, due October 3, 2026, changed scoring, rubrics, artifacts, and requirements. When you interview with a district, ask whether its campuses have pursued CREST to quickly gauge how seriously it runs its counseling program.
CACREP-Accredited School Counseling Programs in Texas
Texas has 12 school counseling master’s programs accredited by CACREP, the national accreditor for counseling programs, listed here by size rather than quality. CACREP accreditation alone doesn’t make you eligible for Texas certification, so confirm that a program meets TEA educator preparation requirements before you apply.
| Institution | City | Degree | Accredited Through | Master’s Graduates (2023) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of North Texas, College of Education | Denton | M.Ed./M.S. | March 31, 2028 | 68 |
| University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, College of Education | Edinburg | M.Ed. | October 31, 2027 | 46 |
| Sam Houston State University | Huntsville | M.Ed. | October 31, 2031 | 17 |
| University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio | M.Ed. | October 31, 2033 | 14 |
| Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi | Corpus Christi | M.S. | October 31, 2028 | 4 |
| Texas A&M University – San Antonio | San Antonio | M.A. | March 31, 2031 | 4 |
| Our Lady of the Lake University | San Antonio | M.A. | October 31, 2034 | 3 |
| Texas A&M University – Victoria | Victoria | M.S. | October 31, 2034 | 3 |
| University of North Texas at Dallas | Dallas | M.Ed. | April 30, 2034 | 2 |
Four programs in the table carry a qualified CACREP status. CACREP lists the University of North Texas, College of Education and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, College of Education as Accredited (Reaffirmation in Process), Sam Houston State University as Accredited (Progress Report Required with a Notice of Concern), and Texas A&M University – Victoria as Accredited (Progress Report Required). The dates shown are the end of each program’s current accreditation cycle.
Three more Texas programs are also CACREP-accredited: Southern Methodist University in Dallas, listed as Accredited (Reaffirmation in Process) through October 31, 2027, Texas State University in San Marcos, through October 31, 2032, and Texas Woman’s University in Denton, through March 31, 2033. They do not report graduates under the federal code used here, so they are listed separately rather than placed in the size order.
How this table was built. Every program here is accredited by CACREP as a School Counseling program, verified against the CACREP register on September 30, 2026. Any program whose CACREP status shows a teach-out, closure, show-cause, or withdrawal is excluded, because a reader cannot reliably enroll in it. Programs are ordered by the number of master’s graduates each university reported to the federal IPEDS survey for 2023 under CIP code 13.1101, which measures size, not quality. That count covers the whole university, so a school running more than one school counseling master’s reports them together, and a low count can mean some graduates are reported under a different code. Treat the order as a rough guide to size rather than a ranking. Programs with the same count are listed alphabetically. Where a university reports no graduates under that code, we name it below the table rather than place it in the order. CACREP accreditation is not the same as state approval: check the Texas requirements for school counselor certification before you enroll.
- 3,380 openings a year: Texas projects about 3,380 annual openings from 2024 to 2034, with employment in the occupation rising 13.6% over that decade.
- Pay above the national median: The Texas median is $67,900 (May 2025), and four of the six largest metros pay more than that.
- No teaching experience required in Texas: Since September 1, 2023, Senate Bill 798 has barred Texas from requiring classroom teaching experience for school counselor certification.
- Protected counseling time: Texas districts must adopt a policy keeping counselors on counseling program duties for at least 80% of their work time, unless a documented policy sets a lower figure.
- 12 accredited programs: Texas has 12 CACREP-accredited school counseling master’s programs, from Edinburg to Denton.
You’ve seen what the job pays and where you can study. The next step is knowing exactly what Texas requires before you apply.
