Wyoming School Counselor
School counselors in Wyoming earn a median salary of $65,070 per year, based on May 2024 BLS data, and work with students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The state projects approximately 60 job openings annually through 2032, with 15.6% employment growth over that period. You’ll need a master’s degree in school counseling and a Professional Services Endorsement from the Wyoming PTSB to practice.
Wyoming Links
Wyoming is a small state with significant counseling needs. It’s approximately 770 school counselors serve districts ranging from Cheyenne’s urban schools to frontier communities where a single counselor may be the only support professional in a building. The job is consistent across settings, but the context is not.
What School Counselors Do in Wyoming
A student at a high school in Sheridan starts skipping classes. Her grades drop. A teacher flags it, but between 30 students per period and no prep time, there’s not much she can do. The school counselor sits down with the student, figures out there’s a housing situation at home, connects the family with community resources, adjusts her schedule to reduce immediate pressure, and checks in weekly through the rest of the semester. That’s the job.
Wyoming school counselors work across three domains defined by the ASCA National Model: academic development, career development, and social/emotional development. Their work also aligns with the Wyoming Content and Performance Standards, which set expectations for what students should know and be able to do. In practice, that means helping students plan for college and careers, running group counseling sessions, coordinating crisis response, and consulting with teachers and parents when a student’s needs extend beyond what the classroom can address.
At the elementary level, counselors focus on early social-emotional learning, building the skills students need to manage emotions, resolve conflict, and engage with learning. In middle school, the work shifts toward identity development and early conversations about future pathways. High school counselors carry heavier college and career planning loads, often guiding hundreds of students through the application process while also handling crisis intervention and mental health referrals.
Wyoming includes school counselors across K-12 grade levels, providing relatively stable demand across the state’s 48 school districts. Rural districts add complexity that urban ones don’t: in Wyoming’s smallest communities, counselors frequently take on additional duties: testing coordination, 504 plan management, even administrative coverage when buildings are short-staffed. According to ASCA, the recommended student-to-counselor ratio is 250:1. Wyoming’s statewide average is reported at approximately 298:1, which compares favorably to national averages, though figures vary by source and year.
Job Outlook in Wyoming
According to state labor projections (2022–2032), Wyoming anticipates approximately 60 school counselor job openings per year, driven by a combination of new positions and turnover. That reflects a projected growth rate of around 15.6% over the projection period, a strong figure for a state this size, though individual years may vary.
Openings are distributed across a large geographic footprint. Districts in Cheyenne and Casper tend to have the most consistent postings. Rural and frontier districts are often actively seeking qualified candidates, and some offer additional incentives to attract counselors to hard-to-fill positions. The school counseling career generally offers a stable demand in Wyoming, given the breadth of the state’s district network.
School Counselor Salary in Wyoming
Based on May 2024 BLS data, Wyoming school counselors earn a median salary of approximately $65,070 per year, nearly identical to the national median of $65,140. Where you work within the state makes a meaningful difference. Casper’s reported median is $87,010, while counselors in eastern Wyoming’s smaller districts typically earn in the low-to-mid $60,000s. All figures reflect BLS estimates and may vary by district, experience, and year.
| Percentile | Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| 10th | $46,640 |
| 25th | $55,840 |
| Median (50th) | $65,070 |
| 75th | $77,400 |
| 90th | $90,120 |
| Metro Area | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Casper, WY | $87,010 |
| Cheyenne, WY | $72,430 |
| Western Wyoming nonmetropolitan area | $68,000 |
| Eastern Wyoming nonmetropolitan area | $61,300 |
- Solid job market — Wyoming projects approximately 60 annual openings and 15.6% growth through 2032, according to state labor projections.
- Salary tracks the national median — At $65,070, Wyoming’s median is nearly even with the U.S. average, with Casper and Cheyenne paying noticeably higher.
- Rural context matters — Many Wyoming counselors work in small, spread-out districts where the role stretches beyond traditional counseling duties.
- Broad statewide demand — Wyoming includes school counselors across K-12 grade levels, supporting stable demand across the state’s 48 districts.
- Wide salary range — Earnings vary significantly by location, from the mid-$40,000s at the 10th percentile to over $90,000 at the 90th.
Ready to explore your path to becoming a Wyoming school counselor?
