School Counselor

Across all employers in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area, the median wage for Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors — about 9,790 people — is $64,730. Thomas Kelly High School pays a median base salary of $93,446 for this role, 44% above that figure — about the 80th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Median total compensation for this role at Thomas Kelly High School is $117,869, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

School Counselor is held in 517 Chicago Public Schools departments. In Thomas Kelly High School, the median of $117,869 ranks #394 of 517.

This role is reported in 3 jurisdictions. In Chicago Public Schools, the median of $135,773 ranks #1 of 3. See School Counselor across all of Chicago Public Schools →