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Pay · 29-9092

Genetic Counselors earn $100,040 a year at the midpoint

Pay is unusually even: nine in ten people earn between $78,270 and $138,760, around a midpoint of $100,040.

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$100,040median a year · United States
$48.09an hour $104,620average 3,740people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$88,90025th $100,040median $116,14075th
$78,27010th percentile $138,76090th percentile
$88,900a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$137,650best-paying state · California
$82,750lowest-paying state · Georgia
+38%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

A short climbThe 25th percentile, $88,900, is within 11% of the median.
State matters a lotThe same job pays $137,650 in California and $82,750 in Georgia — a gap of $54,900 a year.

Genetic counselor earnings, from starting pay to the highest 10%

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  • Provided counseling to patient and family members by providing information, education, or reassurance.
  • Analyzed genetic information to identify patients or families at risk for specific disorders or syndromes.
  • Provided genetic counseling in specified areas of clinical genetics, such as obstetrics, pediatrics, oncology and neurology.

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This page 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. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Genetic counselor wages in each state

The 21 states where the most people do this work, of 28 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.62 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
California $137,650 $105,810 $105,810 — $178,040 440
New Jersey $117,750 $59,000 $59,000 — $164,060 240
New York $107,450 $88,530 $88,530 — $141,430 240
Colorado $106,100 $77,700 $77,700 — $125,920 40
Washington $102,920 $65,470 $65,470 — $133,410 100
Arizona $102,730 $81,560 $81,560 — $138,830 50
Florida $102,330 $74,860 $74,860 — $124,950 100
Minnesota $102,010 $82,580 $82,580 — $111,520 160
Connecticut $101,640 $72,290 $72,290 — $129,990 50
Ohio $100,670 $80,860 $80,860 — $108,940 120
Virginia $99,960 $73,610 $73,610 — $134,220 100
Kentucky $99,770 $80,410 $80,410 — $114,290 50
Utah $98,430 $84,170 $84,170 — $134,920 50
Massachusetts $97,240 $81,510 $81,510 — $145,310 200
Illinois $95,880 $83,840 $83,840 — $116,140 90
Pennsylvania $94,930 $81,790 $81,790 — $121,120 230
Tennessee $94,380 $94,380 $94,380 — $94,380 340
Maryland $94,050 $81,800 $81,800 — $130,870 50
North Carolina $93,570 $79,540 $79,540 — $111,840 80
Wisconsin $92,170 $55,090 $55,090 — $112,270 110
Michigan $84,970 $73,750 $73,750 — $107,960 80

Genetic counselor pay rate, from hourly to yearly

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$100,027a year

Nearby work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Genetic Counselors$100,040
Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars$68,020−$32,020 Surgical Assistants$66,800−$33,240

Number 120 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 85% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 118 Occupational therapists $100,330
  2. 119 Physics Teachers, Postsecondary $100,310
  3. 120 Genetic Counselors $100,040
  4. 121 Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary $99,650
  5. 122 Architects, Except Landscape and Naval $99,280

Examples

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What people often ask

What is a genetic counselor’s yearly income?

A genetic counselor makes a median of $100,040 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $88,900 and $116,140.

What is a genetic counselor’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $48.09 an hour; the average is $104,620 a year.

What is the starting pay for a genetic counselor?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $88,900 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $78,270.

Which state pays genetic counselors the most?

California, with a median of $137,650 a year.

How many people work as genetic counselors?

About 3,740 in the United States — number 120 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays roughly the same

Median pay within $910 of what genetic counselors earn — $100,040 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations