Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors job market in Michigan

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

Michigan industry employment tracked close to the U.S. benchmark

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Michigan.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 100% · BLS QCEWCitationEvidence record

Occupation pay

What Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors earn in Michigan

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$59,440Michigan
Middle 50% of published wages
$47,290 – $75,870
U.S. median annual wage
$64,330
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around Michigan

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, compared with the Michigan median of $59,440.

Michigan median$59,440
Lansing-East Lansing, MI$68,280+14.9% vs. state
Middle 50%$48,390 – $83,970Published employment980
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI$62,840+5.7% vs. state
Middle 50%$48,200 – $78,150Published employment3,420
Ann Arbor, MI$62,710+5.5% vs. state
Middle 50%$50,200 – $72,500Published employment470
Traverse City, MI$61,780+3.9% vs. state
Middle 50%$48,290 – $68,110Published employment100
Battle Creek, MI$61,200+3.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$59,750 – $77,870Published employment120
Muskegon-Norton Shores, MI$60,160+1.2% vs. state
Middle 50%$47,310 – $79,990Published employment130
View 10 more published metro areas
Saginaw, MI$59,720+0.5% vs. state
Middle 50%$50,510 – $72,900Published employment100
South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI$58,320−1.9% vs. state
Middle 50%$45,720 – $64,880Published employment390
Kalamazoo-Portage, MI$57,890−2.6% vs. state
Middle 50%$49,500 – $72,680Published employment280
Bay City, MI$56,690−4.6% vs. state
Middle 50%$47,460 – $71,320Published employment100
Monroe, MI$56,460−5.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$48,090 – $73,560Published employment70
Midland, MI$55,120−7.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$44,130 – $71,520Published employment60
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI$49,960−15.9% vs. state
Middle 50%$45,560 – $64,020Published employment1,090
Niles, MI$49,240−17.2% vs. state
Middle 50%$39,280 – $64,700Published employment140
Jackson, MI$48,870−17.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$44,830 – $62,380Published employment110
Flint, MI$48,500−18.4% vs. state
Middle 50%$44,460 – $68,990Published employment400

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Michigan median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Verified snapshot

Market at a Glance

Key changes in Michigan’s weighted industry mix.

+2.0%Industry employmentMichigan industry employmentU.S. +2.1%vs. +2.1% U.S.
-0.3%Establishments in weighted industriesMichigan establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +6.8%vs. +6.8% U.S.
+2.8%Avg. weekly industry wageMichigan avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +2.4% · not occupation payvs. +2.4% U.S. · not occupation pay
-0.1 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 41,872 represented establishments, 94.88% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Michigan

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.

The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market

Median annual pay of $68,280 puts Lansing-East Lansing, MI at the top of the published pay estimates for Michigan-associated metros with usable employment figures in OEWS May 2025. Its employment estimate is 980. The largest employment market, Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI, has 3,420 estimated jobs and median pay of $62,840. The comparison covers 15 metros, and the highest-paying metro's median is 8.7% higher than the largest market's. Market size describes existing jobs, not available vacancies.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Some metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.

Private education and health services has the largest positive weighted contribution

In January to March 2026, Private education and health services's year-over-year employment change of +2.0% accounts for 97.0% of the positive weighted contributions across the leading industry groups examined in Michigan. This proxy weights each industry group by its share of the occupation's national industry mix; the examined groups cover 99.9% of the mix. The contribution share is not a count of occupation jobs created.

January to March 2026 · BLS QCEW

Published median pay is below the U.S. median

OEWS May 2025 records a state median annual wage of $59,440 for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Michigan. Against the national median of $64,330, that is 7.6% lower. A median describes the middle of the distribution and does not include a living-cost adjustment.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Industry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Employment trends

Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.

Latest published values
  • Michigan · 2026 Q1+2.0%
  • U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+2.1%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value
Quarterly Michigan industry employment changes and coverage
QuarterMichiganCoverage
2024 Q2+3.5%100%
2024 Q3+3.4%100%
2024 Q4+3.0%100%
2025 Q1+3.1%100%
2025 Q2+2.9%100%
2025 Q3+2.4%100%
2025 Q4+2.3%100%
2026 Q1+2.0%100%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows Michigan’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.

Published quarters
8
Earliest quarter
2024 Q2
Latest quarter
2026 Q1
U.S. benchmark
+2.1%

Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.

Industry context

Where Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors Work

The occupation mix determines which Michigan industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the Michigan Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors context
Industry groupOccupation mixEmployment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly industry wage
Private education and health services94.9%+2.0%41,872$1,242
State and local2.0%+0.6%6,231$1,299
Other services1.6%+3.0%27,517$943
Professional and business services1.2%0.0%65,186$2,036
Federal0.2%-5.8%1,470$2,082
Leisure and hospitality0.1%+1.6%26,064$555

Which industries are growing?

4 weighted industries are growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive Michigan employment change are listed.

  • Other services+3.0%
  • Private education and health services+2.0%
  • Leisure and hospitality+1.6%
  • State and local+0.6%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Current Michigan context

Current Michigan Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in Michigan. They are not Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · Michigan

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

102.8Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
+2.8%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+1.1%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View values: Indeed postings index
Indeed postings index
Observation dateIndex (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 2026102.15
Jul 31, 2026101.50
Aug 7, 2026101.09
Aug 14, 2026100.74
Aug 21, 2026101.06
Aug 28, 2026101.87
Sep 4, 2026101.51
Sep 11, 2026101.58
Sep 18, 2026101.36
Sep 25, 2026101.70
Oct 2, 2026101.91
Oct 9, 2026102.01
Oct 16, 2026102.89
Oct 23, 2026102.85

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Michigan FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in Michigan?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Michigan industries weighted to Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors changed +2.0% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +2.1% nationwide.

Are wages for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors rising in Michigan?

QCEW does not publish pay for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +2.8% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this Michigan industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.

Does this page show current Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors openings?

No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.

Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record

Methodology & Sources

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors
SOC code
21-1012
State
Michigan
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
+2.0%State data coverage 100%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
+2.1%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
-0.1 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
-0.3%State data coverage 100%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+2.8%State data coverage 100%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/educational-guidance-and-career-counselors-and-advisors/michigan#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.

Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in other states