North Carolina School Counselor
North Carolina school counselors work with students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The May 2025 median wage is $57,630, and the state projects about 770 job openings a year from 2024 to 2034. Licensure generally requires a master’s from a state-approved school counseling program and a passing Praxis score. Thirteen programs in the state are CACREP-accredited.
North Carolina Links
If you’re weighing school counseling in North Carolina, three questions usually come first: what the job looks like, what it pays, and where you’d train. School counselor licenses are issued by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) under State Board of Education rules. This page covers the job, the pay and the in-state programs, then points you to the step-by-step licensing path.
What School Counselors Do in North Carolina
Walk into almost any public school in North Carolina, and you’ll find a counselor whose caseload touches nearly every part of a student’s day. A high school counselor in Charlotte might spend a morning with a junior who’s the first in her family to apply to college. Together they review financial aid deadlines, look for programs that fit her interest in biomedical research, and follow up with her English teacher about a scholarship essay. By the afternoon, the same counselor is meeting a ninth-grader who’s been withdrawn since his parents separated. That means coordinating with the school psychologist and reaching out to a local therapist for a referral.
That range is the job. North Carolina school counselors work in three overlapping areas. Academic work includes course planning, college and career readiness, and catching students up when they fall behind. Social-emotional work covers crisis response, mental health referrals, and supporting students through hard circumstances at home. School-wide work covers anti-bullying programs, conflict resolution, and collaboration with teachers and administrators.
Most counseling programs in the state follow the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model, a framework for delivering services on a plan rather than only reacting to whatever walks through the door. The North Carolina School Counselor Association (NCSCA) supports counselors in building programs aligned with those national standards. In practice, the most urgent needs still don’t wait for a scheduled appointment.
It’s demanding work. Caseloads in some North Carolina districts run well above ASCA’s recommended ratio of 250 students per counselor. Counselors in under-resourced schools often take on more than their job descriptions spell out. The payoff is watching a student’s path change over a few years, from the freshman who nearly failed out to the senior who leaves with a plan.
Job Outlook in North Carolina
North Carolina projects about 770 job openings a year for this occupation from 2024 to 2034. Most of those openings come from counselors retiring or leaving the field, not from new positions. Employment is projected to grow 5.0% over the same period, from 9,180 to 9,640 jobs. That’s above the 3.5% projected for the U.S. as a whole in the same 2024 to 2034 projections.
These projections cover educational, guidance, school, and vocational counselors, so they include some jobs outside K-12 schools. Openings also depend on local budgets, which vary by district and year. If you have a region in mind, watch which districts are hiring before you finish your degree.
School Counselor Salary in North Carolina
North Carolina school counselors earn a median salary of $57,630 per year (May 2025), below 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. In public school districts, pay starts with a state salary schedule that NCDPI publishes each year and sets a minimum based on experience and education. Districts can add a local supplement for factors like location and market conditions, which is one reason pay differs across the state.
| Percentile | Annual Salary (May 2025) |
|---|---|
| 10th | $40,400 |
| 25th | $46,820 |
| Median (50th) | $57,630 |
| 75th | $63,460 |
| 90th | $74,070 |
| Metro Area | Median Salary (May 2025) |
|---|---|
| Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | $59,530 |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC | $63,080 |
| Durham-Chapel Hill, NC | $58,460 |
| Greensboro-High Point, NC | $56,230 |
| Winston-Salem, NC | $55,790 |
| Wilmington, NC | $55,890 |
CACREP-Accredited School Counseling Programs in North Carolina
Thirteen universities in North Carolina offer a CACREP-accredited school counseling master’s. The table lists 11 of them by how many master’s graduates each university reported in 2023, which measures size, not quality.
| Institution | City | Degree | Accredited Through | Master’s Graduates (2023) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wake Forest University | Winston-Salem | M.A. | October 31, 2034 | 110 |
| University of North Carolina at Charlotte | Charlotte | M.A. | October 31, 2034 | 69 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Education | Chapel Hill | M.Ed. | March 31, 2031 | 28 |
| University of North Carolina at Pembroke | Pembroke | M.A.Ed. | March 31, 2029 | 25 |
| North Carolina State University | Raleigh | M.Ed./M.S. | March 31, 2030 | 22 |
| North Carolina Central University | Durham | M.A. | October 31, 2030 | 13 |
| Western Carolina University | Cullowhee | M.A.Ed. | March 31, 2032 | 11 |
| Appalachian State University | Boone | M.A. | March 31, 2030 | 10 |
| North Carolina A&T State University | Greensboro | M.S. | April 30, 2033 | 10 |
| Lenoir-Rhyne University | Hickory | M.A. | March 31, 2031 | 6 |
| Gardner-Webb University | Boiling Springs | M.A. | April 30, 2033 | 5 |
East Carolina University, College of Education, in Greenville is also CACREP-accredited through March 31, 2030. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is also CACREP-accredited through April 30, 2034. Neither reports graduates under the federal code used here, so they’re listed separately rather than placed in the size order.
CACREP lists the University of North Carolina at Pembroke as Accredited (Progress Report Required), with its current accreditation cycle running through March 31, 2029.
How this table was built. CACREP accredits every program here 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 North Carolina requirements for school counselor certification before you enroll.
North Carolina law protects counselors’ time with students
Under G.S. 115C-316.1, first passed in 2013 and last amended in 2023, school counselors in North Carolina public schools must spend at least 80% of their work time providing direct services to students. That covers classroom lessons, student planning, individual and small-group counseling, and crisis counseling. The same law says they may not help coordinate or administer standardized testing, so if that duty lands on your desk as a new counselor, you have a statute to point to.
- Steady openings: North Carolina projects about 770 openings a year from 2024 to 2034, most of them replacing counselors who leave the field.
- Pay below the national median: The May 2025 state median is $57,630, compared with $64,330 nationally. Raleigh ($63,080) and Charlotte ($59,530) run higher.
- Thirteen accredited programs: CACREP-accredited school counseling master’s programs operate statewide, from Boone to Pembroke.
- Time with students is protected by law: G.S. 115C-316.1 requires North Carolina public school counselors to spend at least 80% of their work time on direct services to students.
You’ve seen the pay and the in-state programs. The next step is a state-approved school counseling master’s, supervised fieldwork, a passing Praxis score, and an NCDPI license. CACREP accreditation is worth weighing when you compare programs. Here’s the full path, step by step.
