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Role hub · Rehabilitation Counselors

Rehabilitation Counselor: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Nov 2, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
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Median percentile pay

Half of rehabilitation counselors earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$46,850
Hourly
$22.52
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Rehabilitation Counselors 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. The median pay is $46,850 a year ($22.52 an hour) (BLS, May 2025).

Median pay
$46,850
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
94,740
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 5 of 5
extensive preparation
Key facts

Rehabilitation Counselors at a glance

  • Rehabilitation counselors in the United States earned a median annual wage of $46,850 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a master's degree as the typical entry-level education for rehabilitation counselors in the United States.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS projects employment of rehabilitation counselors in the United States to grow 2.2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 8,200 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS estimated that 94,740 people were employed as rehabilitation counselors in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

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The work

What rehabilitation counselors do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Develop rehabilitation plans that fit clients' aptitudes, education levels, physical abilities, and career goals.
  2. Confer with clients to discuss their options and goals so that rehabilitation programs and plans for accessing needed services can be developed.
  3. 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.
  4. Monitor and record clients' progress to ensure that goals and objectives are met.
  5. Develop and maintain relationships with community referral sources, such as schools or community groups.
  6. Maintain close contact with clients during job training and placements to resolve problems and evaluate placement adequacy.
  7. Arrange for physical, mental, academic, vocational, and other evaluations to obtain information for assessing clients' needs and developing rehabilitation plans.
  8. Participate in job development and placement programs, contacting prospective employers, placing clients in jobs, and evaluating the success of placements.
Where this career works

Industries that employ it

Data Share of all rehabilitation counselor jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix).

  1. Social assistance52.2% of all jobs in this occupation · -0.8% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $47,000
  2. Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals20.1% of all jobs in this occupation · +2.3% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $67,270
  3. Nursing and residential care facilities13.6% of all jobs in this occupation · +5.4% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $44,880
  4. Ambulatory healthcare services5.1% of all jobs in this occupation · +19.4% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $51,230
  5. Hospitals; state, local, and private3.1% of all jobs in this occupation · +5.7% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $63,250
  6. Educational services; state, local, and private1.7% of all jobs in this occupation · +2.3% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $54,670

Sources: BLS 2025–35 National Employment Matrix (share of the occupation's jobs, projected change) and BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates (mean wage). Different industry estimates are not a pay forecast for any person.

Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Social PerceptivenesscoreActive ListeningcoreSpeakingcoreMonitoringCoordinationService OrientationReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingJudgment and Decision Making

Knowledge areas: Therapy and Counseling, Psychology, Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Administrative, Education and Training.

Tools and technology

Software rehabilitation counselors use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Chart LinksMedical software
  • Client information database softwareMedical software
  • Electronic medical record EMR softwareMedical software
  • Encryption softwareTransaction security and virus protection software
  • Global positioning system GPS softwareMobile location based services software
  • Microsoft ActiveSyncMobile operator specific application software
  • Test interpretation softwareAnalytical or scientific software
  • Virus protection softwareTransaction security and virus protection software
  • Word recognition softwareVoice recognition software
  • Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareIn demand
  • Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft OutlookElectronic mail softwareHot technology

Also called: Classification Counselor, CRC (Certified Rehabilitation Counselor), Employment Advisor, Job Coach, Rehabilitation Specialist, Vocational Counselor.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).

How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.