---
title: "Credit Counselor"
description: "Advise and educate individuals or organizations on acquiring and managing debt. May provide guidance in determining the best type of loan and explain…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/credit-counselor"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Credit Counselor

**Category:** Business and Financial Operations · **SOC code:** 13-2071 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 13-2071.00

Advise and educate individuals or organizations on acquiring and managing debt. May provide guidance in determining the best type of loan and explain loan requirements or restrictions. May help develop debt management plans or student financial aid packages. May advise on credit issues, or provide budget, mortgage, bankruptcy, or student financial aid counseling.

Also advertised as: Accredited Financial Counselor; Budget Credit Counselor; Certified Consumer Credit and Housing Counselor; Certified Credit Consultant; Certified Credit Counselor; Certified Financial Coach; Certified Personal Finance Counselor; Financial Coach.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $52,230 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $25.11/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $38,350 to $80,440, with the middle half between $45,720 and $64,080
- **Total US employment:** 27,770
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +3.3% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 2,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 28/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 27,770 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $38,350 |
| 25th | $45,720 |
| 50th (median) | $52,230 |
| 75th | $64,080 |
| 90th | $80,440 |
| Mean (average) | $57,210 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $67,120 | $60,621 | 2,160 |
| GA | $64,080 | $66,547 | 460 |
| DC | $63,580 | $57,852 | 110 |
| MA | $63,240 | $59,797 | 770 |
| NY | $63,030 | $58,404 | 2,020 |
| NE | $62,510 | $69,376 | 260 |
| WA | $62,360 | $58,273 | 560 |
| MN | $62,160 | $63,029 | 580 |
| MD | $60,450 | $57,594 | 350 |
| OR | $59,150 | $57,227 | 280 |
| NH | $58,830 | $56,478 | 170 |
| RI | $58,480 | $57,176 | 130 |
| PA | $58,330 | $59,781 | 1,110 |
| NJ | $57,180 | $52,553 | 530 |
| CO | $57,130 | $55,438 | 360 |

32 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 47 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/credit-counselor/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/credit-counselor.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 31,200 in the 2025–2035 base year to 32,300 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 1,000 jobs, or +3.3%. About as fast as average: 3.3% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 2,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

## What the work involves

- Create debt management plans, spending plans, or budgets to assist clients to meet financial goals.
- Assess clients' overall financial situations by reviewing income, assets, debts, expenses, credit reports, or other financial information.
- Calculate clients' available monthly income to meet debt obligations.
- Recommend strategies for clients to meet their financial goals, such as borrowing money through loans or loan programs, declaring bankruptcy, making budget adjustments, or enrolling in debt management plans.
- Prioritize client debt repayment to avoid dire consequences, such as bankruptcy or foreclosure or to reduce overall costs, such as by paying high-interest or short-term loans first.
- Recommend educational materials or resources to clients on matters, such as financial planning, budgeting, or credit.
- Review changes to financial, family, or employment situations to determine whether changes to existing debt management plans, spending plans, or budgets are needed.
- Explain general financial topics to clients, such as credit report ratings, bankruptcy laws, consumer protection laws, wage attachments, or collection actions.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Economics and Accounting — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Conventional (C), Social (S), Enterprising (E).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 5.35 |
| S — Social | 4.89 |
| E — Enterprising | 4.73 |
| I — Investigative | 2.65 |
| A — Artistic | 1.80 |
| R — Realistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFJ | 83.3 |
| ENFJ | 72.5 |
| ESTJ | 69.9 |
| ISFJ | 66.7 |
| ESFP | 61.7 |

Best-fitting types: ESFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Financial Advisor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-advisor) — median $105,070
- [Loan Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/loan-officer) — median $76,690
- [Credit Authorizer, Checker, and Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/credit-authorizer-checker-and-clerk) — median $50,080
- [Credit Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/credit-analyst) — median $83,510
- [Loan Interviewer and Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/loan-interviewer-and-clerk) — median $50,020
- [Financial and Investment Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-and-investment-analyst) — median $102,740
- [Security, Commodity, and Financial Services Sales Agent](https://nuecareer.com/careers/security-commodity-and-financial-services-sales-agent) — median $78,660
- [Eligibility Interviewer, Government Programs](https://nuecareer.com/careers/eligibility-interviewer-government-programs) — median $54,210
- [Financial Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-manager) — median $166,570
- [Bill and Account Collector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bill-and-account-collector) — median $47,030

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/credit-counselor