Washington School Counselor
Washington school counselors work with students from pre-K through 12th grade. The state projects about 640 job openings a year from 2024 to 2034, and the May 2025 median wage is $82,670. Washington school counselors generally need a qualifying master’s degree, an approved preparation program or alternative eligibility pathway, a qualifying comprehensive examination, and an Educational Staff Associate (ESA) certificate issued through OSPI. Five CACREP-accredited programs in the state offer the degree.
Washington Links
Washington school counselors work across every grade level, from conflict-resolution lessons in a third-grade classroom to senior-year college applications. State law also shapes how they spend their week, which makes the job a little different. Here’s what the work looks like, what it pays, and where you can train for it.
What School Counselors Do in Washington
Washington’s school counseling programs focus on three areas: academic development, career planning, and social-emotional support. That structure follows the ASCA National Model, which OSPI supports as best practice for the profession. In practice, counselors do different things depending on the school level, and they often do several things at once.
At the elementary level, a counselor might spend Monday morning co-teaching a conflict-resolution lesson in a third-grade classroom, then shift to a check-in with a student whose parent just lost a job. At the high school level, the same position looks different. Senior college application season, dual credit advising, 504 plan coordination, and crisis response can all land in the same week.
Washington law (RCW 28A.320.280) sets out different priorities for school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers. Counselors focus mainly on prevention and guidance, helping students work through the academic and personal problems that could derail their progress. Psychologists typically handle formal assessments, and social workers connect families with community resources. In schools where all three roles are present, they work collaboratively. In schools with only a counselor, the scope widens.
OSPI’s school counseling guidance covers both direct services (individual counseling, group sessions, classroom instruction) and indirect services (consulting with teachers and parents, referring students to outside providers, coordinating with community agencies). Washington counselors typically track their time and show how their work aligns with program goals.
Job Outlook in Washington
Washington projects about 640 openings a year for school counselors and related advisors from 2024 to 2034. Most of those openings come from counselors who retire, move, or leave the field, not from brand-new positions. That’s normal for this occupation, and it means jobs come open every year, even in districts that aren’t adding staff.
Over the same period, Washington expects employment in this category to rise 8.0%, compared with 3.5% nationwide. Both figures come from the same 2024 to 2034 projection round.
About 6,610 people worked in this category in Washington as of May 2025. The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro accounts for 3,570 of them, more than half. Counselors work in every corner of the state, though, from Spokane to Yakima to small districts in eastern Washington. The BLS category here is Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors. It also includes college advisors and career counselors, so not every one of those jobs is in a K-12 school.
Openings don’t mean an easy job. Caseloads vary a lot from district to district. In a small rural district, you may be the only counselor covering several grade levels.
School Counselor Salary in Washington
The median wage for school counselors and related advisors in Washington was $82,670 in May 2025, compared with $64,330 nationally. That’s a gap of more than $18,000. Pay varies within the state, and the metro numbers don’t follow the pattern you might expect. Yakima and Kennewick-Richland show higher medians than Seattle in the May 2025 data. Metropolitan wage differences may reflect local pay practices, workforce composition, and sampling, but the BLS figures alone don’t explain why.
| Percentile | Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| 10th | $57,980 |
| 25th | $65,470 |
| Median (50th) | $82,670 |
| 75th | $104,690 |
| 90th | $125,950 |
The table below compares May 2025 median wages across six Washington metropolitan areas.
| Metro Area | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $87,280 |
| Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA | $75,990 |
| Kennewick-Richland, WA | $88,900 |
| Bellingham, WA | $69,800 |
| Yakima, WA | $96,370 |
| Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA | $83,050 |
CACREP-Accredited School Counseling Programs in Washington
Five CACREP-accredited school counseling programs operate in Washington. They’re listed by the number of master’s graduates each university reported, which measures size, not quality.
| Institution | City | Degree | Accredited Through | Master’s Graduates (2023) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle University | Seattle | M.A.Ed. | October 31, 2027 | 36 |
| Gonzaga University | Spokane | M.A. | March 31, 2030 | 28 |
| City University of Seattle | Seattle | M.A. | March 31, 2032 | 12 |
| University of Puget Sound | Tacoma | M.Ed. | March 31, 2031 | 8 |
| Western Washington University | Bellingham | M.Ed. | October 31, 2031 | 6 |
CACREP lists Seattle University’s status as Accredited (Reaffirmation in Process), with its current accreditation cycle ending October 31, 2027.
CACREP accreditation is not required for Washington school counselor certification. Students should verify that their program meets Washington’s ESA certification requirements.
Washington accepts qualifying comprehensive examinations completed through approved preparation programs, as well as approved alternatives such as the National Counselor Examination (NCE) or Praxis School Counselor examination (5422). Not every applicant must take the same exam.
Washington law sets aside counselors’ time for students
In 2021, the Washington Legislature passed Substitute Senate Bill 5030. It requires every school district to run a written school counseling program built on national standards. Washington law requires qualifying school counseling staff to spend at least 80% of their work time providing direct and indirect services that benefit students. If you’re weighing where to work, it gives you a concrete answer on how your week should be split.
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 program 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. CACREP accreditation is not the same as state approval: check the Washington requirements for school counselor certification before you enroll.
- Steady openings: Washington projects about 640 openings a year from 2024 to 2034. Most come from counselors retiring or leaving.
- Above-average pay: Washington’s May 2025 median for this BLS category is $82,670. That’s more than $18,000 above the national figure.
- Five accredited programs: You can train at a CACREP-accredited program in Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, or Bellingham.
- State law shapes the job: SSB 5030 directs most of a counselor’s time toward students.
- Clear credential path: You’ll need a qualifying master’s degree and an approved preparation program or alternative pathway. You’ll also need a qualifying exam and an ESA certificate from OSPI. Details are on the become and certification pages.
Comparing the programs above? Check Washington’s ESA certificate requirements before you enroll. That way, the program you choose lines up with the state’s process.
