New York School Counselor
New York school counselors serve students in kindergarten through grade 12. The state projects about 2,390 openings a year from 2024 to 2034, and the May 2025 median wage is $71,610 ($77,580 in the New York City metro). Public school counselors need a NYSED School Counselor certificate, which requires graduate preparation plus pathway-specific requirements. Thirteen CACREP-accredited programs operate statewide.
New York Links
New York employs about 23,380 educational, guidance and career counselors and advisors, according to May 2025 BLS data. That BLS category also includes college advisors and career counselors who work outside K-12 schools, so not all of them are school counselors. In New York City and Buffalo you’ll still see the older title “guidance counselor” on licenses and contracts, but the statewide certificate is School Counselor. Regardless of the title, the work includes academic planning, college and career advising, and social and emotional support for kids who need someone in their corner.
What School Counselors Do in New York
State rules require every district to run a K-12 school counseling program, but the day-to-day reality varies by where you work and which students walk through your door.
In an elementary school in Buffalo, a counselor might spend a morning leading a classroom lesson on conflict resolution, then shift to a one-on-one session with a student whose parents are divorcing. In the afternoon, she’s meeting with a teacher to coordinate support for a second grader who’s been struggling since a family disruption at home. She’s not just responding to crises. She’s building ongoing relationships that help kids stay on track before things escalate.
At a high school in the Bronx, the picture is different. A counselor is working with a senior who’s the first in his family to apply to college. He has the grades, but the FAFSA and New York’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) application are genuinely complex, and he needs someone who knows the system. His counselor does. She’s also checking that his transcript reflects his actual coursework and pointing him toward scholarships he didn’t know existed.
Both counselors work within the same three areas the state defines: academic development, college and career planning, and social and emotional support. NYSED’s guidance points districts to the ASCA National Model, which treats counselors as program leaders rather than support staff. In practice, that means you’ll be expected to use data, evaluate whether your program is working, and report on it.
Caseloads are the hard part. ASCA recommends no more than 250 students per counselor, and New York’s statewide ratio was about 305 to 1 in 2024-25, according to ASCA’s analysis of federal data. That’s an average across very different districts. In under-resourced districts, you may carry more students and more roles than you expected going in. Weigh that when you decide where in the state to build your career.
Job Outlook in New York
New York projects about 2,390 openings a year for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors from 2024 to 2034, according to long-term projections compiled by Projections Central from state labor department data. Most of those openings come from replacing counselors who retire or change careers, not from new positions. Employment for the group is projected to rise 5.1% over the decade, compared with 3.5% nationally in the same 2024 to 2034 projections.
For anyone searching for school counselor jobs in New York, replacement needs are projected to create job openings across the state, although opportunities vary by district, region and hiring cycle. If you’re flexible about location, you’ll have more options, since high-need districts in the city and upstate both hire certified counselors.
School Counselor Salary in New York
New York’s May 2025 median wage of $71,610 sits about $7,300 above the national median of $64,330. Because these BLS figures cover the broader counselor and advisor group described above, treat them as a guide rather than a K-12 pay scale.
| Percentile | Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| 10th | $46,100 |
| 25th | $57,550 |
| Median (50th) | $71,610 |
| 75th | $93,540 |
| 90th | $123,850 |
In New York City public schools, pay isn’t negotiated person by person. DOE school counselors are paid on a salary schedule set by the United Federation of Teachers contract, where your step (years of service) and education level set your rate. You can check current rates on UFT’s DOE salary schedules, which include the school counselor schedule. Those contract rates are separate from the BLS medians on this page.
Outside the city, each district sets its own schedule, and the gap is real. Medians in the Rochester, Buffalo and Albany metros run roughly $14,700 to $16,900 below the New York City metro figure. That metro figure also includes New Jersey counties and employers outside public schools, so it isn’t the DOE pay rate.
| Metro Area | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $77,580 |
| Rochester, NY | $60,670 |
| Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY | $62,000 |
| Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | $62,920 |
| Syracuse, NY | $67,870 |
| Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY | $75,020 |
CACREP-Accredited School Counseling Programs in New York
Thirteen CACREP-accredited school counseling programs operate in New York. The table lists 12 of them in order of how many master’s graduates each university reported for 2023, which is a measure of size, not quality. These are completions reported under CIP code 13.1101 for the whole university, not a confirmed count of graduates from the specific CACREP-accredited program.
| Institution | City | Degree | Accredited Through | Master’s Graduates (2023) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Bonaventure University | St. Bonaventure | M.S.Ed. | October 31, 2032 | 118 |
| Alfred University | Alfred | M.S.Ed. | October 31, 2032 | 100 |
| Hunter College | New York | M.S.Ed. | March 31, 2028 | 48 |
| New York Institute of Technology | Old Westbury | M.S. | October 31, 2031 | 30 |
| Lehman College, City University of New York | Bronx | M.S.Ed. | March 31, 2027 | 25 |
| Long Island University Post and Brentwood | Brookville | M.S. | October 31, 2029 | 19 |
| Brooklyn College, City University of New York | Brooklyn | M.S.Ed. | March 31, 2027 | 17 |
| SUNY Brockport | Brockport | M.S.Ed. | March 31, 2033 | 17 |
| State University of New York at New Paltz | New Paltz | M.S. | March 31, 2029 | 14 |
| St. John’s University | Queens | M.S.Ed. | March 31, 2027 | 11 |
| University of Rochester | Rochester | M.S. | March 31, 2028 | 11 |
| Canisius University | Buffalo | M.S. | October 31, 2033 | 6 |
Syracuse University in Syracuse is also CACREP-accredited, through October 31, 2027. It does not report graduates under the federal code used here, so it is listed separately rather than placed in the size order.
Eight of these programs carry a CACREP status other than plain Accredited. Brooklyn College, Lehman College, and St. John’s University are listed as Accredited (Reaffirmation in Process), with cycles ending March 31, 2027. The University of Rochester carries the same status through March 31, 2028, and Syracuse University through October 31, 2027. Alfred University, Long Island University Post and Brentwood, and the State University of New York at New Paltz are listed as Accredited (Progress Report Required).
The New York State Education Department (NYSED) issues New York school counselor certification. CACREP accredits counseling programs but does not issue state educator certificates. CACREP accreditation does not automatically qualify you for New York School Counselor certification, and CACREP accreditation is not required in every state. Confirm that your specific degree program meets NYSED requirements before enrolling.
What New York’s counseling rule asks of you
Since the 2019-20 school year, Commissioner’s Regulation 100.2(j) has required every New York district to run a K-12 counseling program and give every student access to a certified school counselor. In kindergarten through grade 5, a certified school counselor designs the program in coordination with teachers and other school staff. In grades 6 through 12, a certified counselor meets with each student individually at least once a year to review their progress and career plans. Districts also update their counseling plans annually and, per NYSED guidance, present a program outcomes report to their board of education.
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 New York requirements for school counselor certification before you enroll.
- Openings, not hype: New York projects about 2,390 openings a year from 2024 to 2034, most of them replacing counselors who leave.
- Pay depends on where you work: The May 2025 median is $71,610 statewide and $77,580 in the New York City metro, but closer to $60,670 in Rochester.
- NYC pay follows a schedule: DOE counselors are paid by step and education level under the UFT contract.
- Thirteen accredited programs: CACREP lists 13 school counseling programs in the state, several with a status or cycle date worth checking before you apply.
- Caseloads are real: New York’s 2024-25 ratio of about 305 students per counselor is above ASCA’s recommended 250.
Picked out a few programs from the table above? The next step is mapping the degree, fieldwork and certificate sequence in New York, and our step-by-step guide walks through it.
