---
title: "Rehabilitation Counselor"
description: "Counsel individuals to maximize the independence and employability of persons coping with personal, social, and vocational difficulties that result from…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/rehabilitation-counselor"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Rehabilitation Counselor

**Category:** Community and Social Service · **SOC code:** 21-1015 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 21-1015.00

Counsel individuals to maximize the independence and employability of persons coping with personal, social, and vocational difficulties that result from birth defects, illness, disease, accidents, aging, or the stress of daily life. Coordinate activities for residents of care and treatment facilities. Assess client needs and design and implement rehabilitation programs that may include personal and vocational counseling, training, and job placement.

Also advertised as: Classification Counselor; CRC (Certified Rehabilitation Counselor); Employment Advisor; Job Coach; Rehabilitation Specialist; Vocational Counselor; Vocational Placement Specialist; Vocational Services Specialist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $46,850 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $22.52/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $35,060 to $77,170, with the middle half between $38,770 and $59,260
- **Total US employment:** 94,740
- **Typical entry education:** Master's
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +2.2% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 8,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 29/100 — 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 94,740 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $35,060 |
| 25th | $38,770 |
| 50th (median) | $46,850 |
| 75th | $59,260 |
| 90th | $77,170 |
| Mean (average) | $51,820 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WY | $67,640 | $72,974 | 70 |
| ND | $63,050 | $70,875 | 210 |
| AK | $61,590 | $60,171 | 130 |
| KY | $58,540 | $64,930 | 790 |
| WA | $58,050 | $54,246 | 5,440 |
| CT | $56,340 | $54,377 | 2,410 |
| GA | $55,000 | $57,117 | 740 |
| OR | $54,970 | $53,183 | 1,630 |
| ID | $54,550 | $57,124 | 820 |
| AL | $54,040 | $60,840 | 540 |
| PR | $53,180 | No BEA price parity | 290 |
| ME | $51,150 | $52,705 | 330 |
| VT | $50,030 | $51,073 | 310 |
| TX | $49,990 | $51,506 | 1,840 |
| NJ | $49,730 | $45,706 | 1,630 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/rehabilitation-counselor/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/rehabilitation-counselor.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 96,900 in the 2025–2035 base year to 99,000 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 2,200 jobs, or +2.2%. Slower than average: 2.2% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 8,200 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:** Master's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

## What the work involves

- Confer with clients to discuss their options and goals so that rehabilitation programs and plans for accessing needed services can be developed.
- Locate barriers to client employment, such as inaccessible work sites, inflexible schedules, or transportation problems, and work with clients to develop strategies for overcoming these barriers.
- Analyze information from interviews, educational and medical records, consultation with other professionals, and diagnostic evaluations to assess clients' abilities, needs, and eligibility for services.
- Develop and maintain relationships with community referral sources, such as schools or community groups.
- Develop rehabilitation plans that fit clients' aptitudes, education levels, physical abilities, and career goals.
- Prepare and maintain records and case files, including documentation, such as clients' personal and eligibility information, services provided, narratives of client contacts, or relevant correspondence.
- Monitor and record clients' progress to ensure that goals and objectives are met.
- Maintain close contact with clients during job training and placements to resolve problems and evaluate placement adequacy.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — 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 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.3 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.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Therapy and Counseling — importance 4.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.9 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 Social (S), Enterprising (E), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 6.80 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.56 |
| I — Investigative | 3.27 |
| C — Conventional | 3.26 |
| A — Artistic | 2.98 |
| R — Realistic | 1.23 |

### 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ENFJ | 81.3 |
| ESFJ | 74.4 |
| ESFP | 71.6 |
| ENFP | 69.8 |
| INFJ | 62.8 |

Best-fitting types: ENFJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mental-health-and-substance-abuse-social-worker) — median $60,280
- [Mental Health Counselor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mental-health-counselor) — median $60,320
- [Healthcare Social Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/healthcare-social-worker) — median $67,880
- [School Social Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/school-social-worker) — median $59,550
- [Occupational Therapy Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-aide) — median $39,160
- [Psychiatric Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/psychiatric-technician) — median $45,130
- [Clinical Psychologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/clinical-psychologist) — median $100,580
- [Recreational Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/recreational-therapist) — median $61,960
- [Social and Community Service Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/social-and-community-service-manager) — median $80,390
- [Occupational Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapist) — median $100,330

## 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/rehabilitation-counselor