Colorado School Counselor
Colorado school counselors need a master’s in school counseling (48+ semester hours), a 100-hour practicum, and a 600-hour internship. They need a Praxis 5422 score of 159 for a CDE Special Services license with a School Counselor endorsement. Alternate pathways exist. The state projects 690 openings a year from 2024 to 2034, and the May 2025 median wage is $64,780.
Colorado Links
Colorado’s school counselors work in one of the country’s most varied states. Some serve well-resourced suburban districts along the Front Range. Others work in rural communities in the mountains and eastern plains, where a single counselor may cover students across several schools. If you’re exploring this path, start with a master’s degree in school counseling. Next, earn a Special Services license with a School Counselor endorsement from the Colorado Department of Education.
What School Counselors Do in Colorado
Take a student like Carlos, a junior at a Denver high school who’s been showing up late, falling behind in two classes, and pulling away from his friend group. His counselor doesn’t just flag the attendance issue. She schedules a one-on-one, realizes his family moved and his commute doubled, coordinates with his teachers to give him some breathing room while he adjusts, and connects him with a community resource for after-school support. Three months later, Carlos is back on track for graduation.
That’s the work. Colorado school counselors operate across three broad domains: academic support, social-emotional development, and college and career readiness. In a given week, a counselor might run a small-group session on stress management, meet individually with a student navigating a family crisis, help a class of seniors work through financial aid applications, and consult with a teacher about a student whose behavior has shifted.
Many Colorado school counselors organize their work within the framework of the ASCA National Model, which structures counseling programs around proactive outreach and measurable outcomes rather than purely reactive services. Adoption varies by district, but the framework is widely referenced statewide.
The emotional demands are real. ASCA recommends a ratio of 250 students per school counselor. Actual caseloads depend on the school and district, so ask about yours before you accept a position. The work also brings counselors into contact with students dealing with poverty, trauma, and mental health challenges that extend beyond what any single counselor can fully address. That’s part of the picture too.
Job Outlook in Colorado
Colorado projects about 690 job openings a year for school counselors and related advisors from 2024 to 2034. Employment in this category is projected to grow 17.5% over that decade, compared with 3.5% for the same occupation nationally over the same 2024-2034 period. That’s the second-highest projected rate of any state in that projection round.
Most of those openings won’t be brand-new positions, though. The 2024-2034 projection adds about 1,190 jobs over the full ten years, roughly 120 a year. The rest of each year’s openings come from counselors who retire, change roles, or leave the field. As of May 2025, about 6,530 people in Colorado worked in this federal job category.
Opportunities exist statewide, but availability and pay vary considerably by region. For a full look at what the path into this career requires, see how to become a Colorado school counselor.
School Counselor Salary in Colorado
Colorado’s median salary for school counselors is $64,780 per year (May 2025), a little above the national median of $64,330. These figures cover the federal category for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, which includes some workers outside K-12 schools. Where you work strongly affects your pay. Boulder has the highest metro median at $75,030, while the Eastern and Southern Colorado nonmetro area sits at $51,470. For a broader look at how Colorado compares nationally, see the school counselor salary overview.
| Percentile | Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| 10th | $48,690 |
| 25th | $57,640 |
| Median (50th) | $64,780 |
| 75th | $78,420 |
| 90th | $97,960 |
| Metro Area | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Boulder, CO | $75,030 |
| Northwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area | $67,930 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $67,080 |
| Fort Collins-Loveland, CO | $65,720 |
| Colorado Springs, CO | $62,640 |
| Eastern and Southern Colorado nonmetropolitan area | $51,470 |
CACREP-Accredited School Counseling Programs in Colorado
Eight Colorado universities offer a CACREP-accredited master’s in school counseling. The table lists the three that report graduate counts, ordered by size, not quality.
| Institution | City | Degree | Accredited Through | Master’s Graduates (2023) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Colorado at Colorado Springs | Colorado Springs | M.A. | March 31, 2033 | 70 |
| University of Denver | Denver | M.A. | October 31, 2030 | 54 |
| University of Northern Colorado, College of Education and Behavioral Sciences | Greeley | M.S. | October 31, 2029 | 12 |
Five more Colorado programs are also CACREP-accredited, each offering an M.A. They don’t report graduates under the federal code used here, so they’re listed separately rather than placed in the size order: Adams State University in Alamosa (accredited through March 31, 2028), Colorado Christian University in Lakewood (through October 31, 2027), Colorado State University in Fort Collins (through March 31, 2028), Denver Seminary in Littleton (through October 31, 2029), and the University of Colorado at Denver (through March 31, 2030).
Four programs carry a qualified CACREP status. Colorado State University and Colorado Christian University are Accredited (Reaffirmation in Process). Denver Seminary and the University of Northern Colorado are Accredited (Progress Report Required). Colorado Christian’s current accreditation cycle ends October 31, 2027.
In Colorado, CACREP accreditation and licensure are linked. Since July 1, 2021, the Colorado Department of Education has generally required graduation from a CACREP-accredited school counseling program, with limited exceptions for some out-of-state applicants. Accreditation alone doesn’t license you, though. You still apply to CDE and meet its other requirements.
Colorado pays for new school counselor positions
Through its School Counselor Corps Grant Program, the Colorado Department of Education funds school counseling in districts, BOCES, and charter schools. In the 2026-27 round, first-year awards range from $30,000 to $50,000 per funded local education provider, and years two through four allow up to $90,000 per funded school, which requires a licensed school counselor at 1.0 FTE. Each year depends on the legislature’s annual appropriation, so if a district’s opening is grant-funded, ask how the district will sustain the position once the grant ends.
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. 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 Colorado requirements for school counselor certification before you enroll.
- Strong projected growth: Colorado projects about 690 openings a year and 17.5% growth from 2024 to 2034, compared with 3.5% for the occupation nationally over the same period.
- Broad scope of work: Counselors support students academically, socially, and emotionally, and may serve multiple schools in rural areas.
- Geography shapes pay: The May 2025 state median is $64,780, with regional medians ranging from $51,470 to $75,030.
- Eight accredited programs: Colorado has eight CACREP-accredited school counseling master’s programs, from Alamosa to Greeley.
- Caseloads vary: ASCA recommends 250 students per counselor, and actual caseloads depend on the school and district.
Comparing Colorado’s eight programs? The next step is knowing what the state requires before you apply.
