BestOnlineCollege.org is an advertising-supported website. Many of the school and program listings that appear on this site are from partners who compensate us, and this compensation may affect how, where, and in what order listings appear (such as featured placements). This compensation does not influence our editorial content, evaluations, or rankings, which are determined independently using publicly available data. We do not review or feature every school or program available in the marketplace. Our goal is to provide accurate, unbiased information so you can make informed decisions. Read our full Advertiser Disclosure.
Athens, Georgia has 5 accredited schools offering counseling programs, with tuition ranging from $23,250 to $45,359 per year for indexed programs. Athens has a population of about 137,582. In Georgia, the top-earning counseling-related role is Marriage and Family Therapist at a median $91,550 annually (BLS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer counseling programs near Athens, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Athens city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Athens. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Georgia schools on the Georgia counseling page.
Athens is part of the Athens-Clarke County, GA metro area (BLS area code 12020). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Georgia statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselor | $46,900 | Athens-Clarke County, GA | $50,268 |
| Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselor and Advisor | $57,870 | Athens-Clarke County, GA | $62,026 |
| Marriage and Family Therapist | $91,550 | GA statewide | $98,124 |
| Rehabilitation Counselor | $55,000 | GA statewide | $58,950 |
| Counselor, All Other | $39,950 | Athens-Clarke County, GA | $42,819 |
| Social and Community Service Manager | $68,260 | Athens-Clarke County, GA | $73,162 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 93.3 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
| Counseling-related employment in Clarke County | 1,655 workers, 224 establishments | BLS QCEW 2024 annual |
Accredited schools offering counseling programs near Athens are listed on this page, ranked by BOC Score and distance from the city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS and College Scorecard data on every site update, so it stays current as programs open and close.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying counseling-related roles near Athens are: Marriage and Family Therapist ($91,550), Social and Community Service Manager ($68,260), Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselor and Advisor ($57,870). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Georgia statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Winder, GA is 20.4 miles from Athens and has its own set of local counseling programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Athens:
Data verified: July 23, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
