If you’ve ever wondered how your salary compares with other counselors in your area, the American Counseling Association Job Center has a new tool that can help you with that determination — the CB (CareerBuilder) Salary Calculator.

Salary information is provided by a market leader in online compensation information and host to the largest ongoing employee compensation survey in the world. The data provided are continuously updated to ensure users have the highest quality and most current salary information on the Internet. Additionally, ACA members have access to real-time pay data that matches the companies, positions and job profiles of employees and employers across the globe.

The reports are based on employee survey data, information collected from various employer and professional association compensation surveys, the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics and partnerships with other compensation data providers. The methodology used to analyze this data is based on the best practices standards set by the industry.

The algorithm used to analyze the data is unique, and each survey collected undergoes 20 tests for validity, including:

• Checks for consistency with salary ranges reported from reputable sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Checks to identify and eliminate duplicate entries by the same individual
• Checks for “internal consistency” within an individual profile (e.g., if a 23-year-old reports having 18 years of experience in a given field, his/her data is considered suspect and not utilized)

From the ACA Career Center page at www.counseling.org/CareerCenter/, select “ACA Job Center,” then use your ACA log-in and password. In the lower right-hand corner, you’ll find the Salary Calculator. Add the requested information, and you’ll find the range and median salaries for your geographic area.