Mid-Level

Mortgage Counselor

At a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, you provide structured mortgage counseling to borrowers — pre-purchase counseling, foreclosure prevention counseling, refinance education, and the certified guidance that HUD-approved housing-counseling work involves.

Career Level
Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
VP
Executive
Work Personality
C
S
E
I
A
R
Conventionalorganizing, detail-oriented
Socialhelping, teaching
Based on Holland Code framework
Job markets for Mortgage Counselors
Employment concentration · ~112 areas
Based on employment in related occupations
Mapped SOC categories:
BLS Occupational Employment Statistics
What it's like

What it's like to be a Mortgage Counselor

Days tend to mix client counseling sessions, action-plan follow-through, and HUD-reporting work — meeting with clients on their housing-finance situations, building written action plans, supporting clients through lender or servicer interactions, processing HUD-required documentation and counseling records. Client outcomes, certification adherence, and HUD compliance shape the visible measures.

What gets demanding is the emotional weight of foreclosure-prevention work — many clients arrive in mortgage distress facing potential home loss, and counselors balance emotional support with the structured guidance that produces real outcomes. Variance across employers is real: HUD-approved nonprofits run under specific certification and reporting frameworks; bank-affiliated counseling programs run with different funding; community-development financial institutions run with member-focused scopes.

The role tends to fit folks who carry genuine empathy, mortgage-financing literacy, and the patient stamina that emotionally consequential counseling requires. HUD counselor certification and NeighborWorks or NFCC training anchor advancement. The trade-off is the modest pay typical of nonprofit counseling work balanced by the visible impact on clients navigating housing-financial distress.

RelationshipsAbove avg
AchievementAbove avg
IndependenceAbove avg
Working ConditionsModerate
RecognitionModerate
SupportLower
O*NET Work Values survey
✦ Editorial — written by Truest from industry research and career patterns
Career Paths

Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.

$239K$179K$119K$60K$0KLower paying387 metro areas, sorted by salary level
All experience levels1
This level's estimated range
INDUSTRIES PAYING ABOVE AVERAGE
1 BLS OEWS May 2024 covers all Mortgage Counselors (SOC 13-2071.00), not just this title · BEA RPP 2023
* Top salaries exceed this figure. BLS caps reported wages at ~$240K to protect individual privacy in high-earning roles.
Exploring the Mortgage Counselor career path? Truest helps you figure out if it's the right fit — and plan your path forward.
Explore career tools
✦ Editorial — career progression and interview guidance based on industry patterns
The Broader Landscape

Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.

$39K–$78K
Salary Range
10th – 90th percentile
28K
U.S. Employment
+3.3%
10yr Growth
2K
Annual Openings

How this category is changing

$74K$71K$68K$65K$62K201920202021202220232024$62K$74K
BLS OEWS May 2024 · BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034

Skills & Requirements

SpeakingReading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingWritingActive LearningService OrientationJudgment and Decision MakingComplex Problem SolvingPersuasion
O*NET OnLine · Bureau of Labor Statistics
13-2071.00

Navigate your career with clarity

Truest gives you tools to understand your strengths, explore roles that fit, and plan your next move.

Explore Truest career tools
Federal data: BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (May 2024) · BLS Employment Projections · O*NET OnLine
Truest editorial: Fit check, role profile, things that vary, advancement analysis, lateral moves, interview questions.