South Carolina / Department of Corrections / Guidance Counselor
Job-title file
Assess client needs, develop service plans, and connect people with support resources.
1 employees hold this title in Department of Corrections. Median total compensation for the role is $84,298, above the department median of $63,461.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in South Carolina, the median wage for Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors — about 6,460 people — is $60,340. Department of Corrections pays a median base salary of $84,298 for this role, 40% above that figure — about the 87th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors across every employer in South Carolina, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Department of Corrections’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors — about 353,310 people — is $64,330. Department of Corrections’s median base salary is 31% above that national figure, about the 76th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the South Carolina range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Department of Corrections is $84,298, 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.
Compare departments
Guidance Counselor is held in 4 South Carolina departments. In Department of Corrections, the median of $84,298 ranks #3 of 4.
Median total compensation for the Guidance Counselor role in other South Carolinadepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 3 jurisdictions. In South Carolina, the median of $84,336 ranks #2 of 3. See Guidance Counselor across all of South Carolina →
Median total compensation for comparable Guidance Counselorroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Record list
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Guidance Counselor/Department of Corrections
Shaquetta Ferguson is a Guidance Counselor at Department of Corrections. 2026 total compensation came to $84,298.