Rehabilitation Counselors
Human ServicesO*NET 21-1015.00United States
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. Coordinate activities for residents of care and treatment facilities.
- Median annual earnings
- $46,848
- Projected change
- +5.2%
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree
- Employment
- 98.76K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
55.9% of the workforce
Growing to 103.94K by 2035
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ASU learning related to this career
These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What rehabilitation counselors do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Confer with clients to discuss their options and goals so that rehabilitation programs and plans for accessing needed services can be developed.
- Prepare and maintain records and case files, including documentation, such as clients' personal and eligibility information, services provided, narratives of client contacts, or relevant correspondence.
- Develop rehabilitation plans that fit clients' aptitudes, education levels, physical abilities, and career goals.
- 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.
- Monitor and record clients' progress to ensure that goals and objectives are met.
- Participate in job development and placement programs, contacting prospective employers, placing clients in jobs, and evaluating the success of placements.
- Analyze information from interviews, educational and medical records, consultation with other professionals, and diagnostic evaluations to assess clients' abilities, needs, and eligibility for services.
- Develop and maintain relationships with community referral sources, such as schools or community groups.
- Collaborate with clients' families to implement rehabilitation plans, such as behavioral, residential, social, or employment goals.
- Maintain close contact with clients during job training and placements to resolve problems and evaluate placement adequacy.
- Arrange for on-site job coaching or assistive devices, such as specially equipped wheelchairs, to help clients adapt to work or school environments.
- Arrange for physical, mental, academic, vocational, and other evaluations to obtain information for assessing clients' needs and developing rehabilitation plans.
- Confer with physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, and other professionals to develop and implement client rehabilitation programs.
- Collaborate with community agencies to establish facilities and programs for persons with disabilities.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $35,030
- 25th percentile
- $38,760
- 50th percentile
- $46,848
- 75th percentile
- $59,291
- 90th percentile
- $77,270
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $46,848 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+5.2%average or slower
202598,759 jobs
2035 projected103,942 jobs
5,183 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Bachelor's degree
- 55.9%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 31.2%
- High school diploma or less
- 12.9%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors738 postings
- 02Rehabilitation Counselors592 postings
- 03Counseling Psychologists148 postings
- 04Vocational Case Managers137 postings
- 05Accommodation Specialists119 postings
- 06Psychiatric Rehabilitation Counselors89 postings
- 07Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants71 postings
- 08Vocational Counselors46 postings
- 09Returns Specialists43 postings
- 10Vocational Evaluators43 postings
- 11Employment Counselors34 postings
- 12Vocational Rehabilitation Specialists29 postings
- 13Transition Counselors28 postings
- 14Program Counselors26 postings
- 15Cognitive Performance Specialists24 postings
- 16Counselors21 postings
- 17Rehabilitation Therapy Aides21 postings
- 18Employment Specialists18 postings
- 19Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services Coordinators18 postings
- 20Rehabilitation Therapists16 postings
Top employers
- 01Aya Healthcare262 postings
- 02Sedgwick165 postings
- 03Federal Bureau of Investigation143 postings
- 04The Hartford110 postings
- 05State of Florida89 postings
- 06Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania85 postings
- 07State of South Carolina69 postings
- 08State of Washington55 postings
- 09Guardian Life52 postings
- 10State of Louisiana49 postings
- 11State of New York41 postings
- 12United States Department of Veterans Affairs39 postings
- 13Newyork State Government38 postings
- 14Nys Department Of Civil Service38 postings
- 15State Of Illinois38 postings
- 16Health And Human Services35 postings
- 17State Of Iowa35 postings
- 18American Public Human Services Association31 postings
- 19New York State29 postings
- 20Sevita26 postings
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