AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 21-1015.00
Will AI replace Rehabilitation Counselors?
Rehabilitation Counselors: AI can already handle 8 of 17 tasks; the work mostly needs a frontier-tier model.
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample: send this role and up to nine others, and a founder sends a board-pack PDF within two business days.
Every task, scored
The 17 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Rehabilitation Counselors, from most to least exposed. 8 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monitor and record clients' progress to ensure that goals and objectives are met. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Arrange for on-site job coaching or assistive devices, such as specially equipped wheelchairs, to help clients adapt to work or school environments. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Manage budgets and direct case service allocations, authorizing expenditures and payments. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Supervise rehabilitation counselors and staff. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Collaborate with community agencies to establish facilities and programs for persons with disabilities. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Analyze information from interviews, educational and medical records, consultation with other professionals, and diagnostic evaluations to assess clients' abilities, needs, and eligibility for services. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Maintain close contact with clients during job training and placements to resolve problems and evaluate placement adequacy. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Arrange for physical, mental, academic, vocational, and other evaluations to obtain information for assessing clients' needs and developing rehabilitation plans. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Confer with clients to discuss their options and goals so that rehabilitation programs and plans for accessing needed services can be developed. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Develop rehabilitation plans that fit clients' aptitudes, education levels, physical abilities, and career goals. | Estimated | Standard | |
| 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. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Participate in job development and placement programs, contacting prospective employers, placing clients in jobs, and evaluating the success of placements. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Collaborate with clients' families to implement rehabilitation plans, such as behavioral, residential, social, or employment goals. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Develop and maintain relationships with community referral sources, such as schools or community groups. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Confer with physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, and other professionals to develop and implement client rehabilitation programs. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Develop diagnostic procedures to determine clients' needs. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| 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. | Estimated | Efficient |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 0 of 17 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 17 of 17. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central the task is. Model tier is the lowest tier that can do the task under the published rubric; "No tier" marks hands-on work.
The model tier this role needs
A frontier-tier model or lower covers 100% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 100% of the work is something AI can address at some tier.
Efficient, standard and frontier tiers come from the JobRoute model tier reference. The recommended tier is the lowest one that covers 80% of the work AI can address. How the method works.
Wages, employment and outlook
- US employment
- 94,740
- Median annual wage
- $46,850
- Middle half of earners
- $38,770 to $59,260
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- +1.4%
Employment and wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Projection: BLS Employment Projections 2024 to 2034.
Adjacent roles
The occupations that reuse the most of this role's skills, with the usual time to move. These are the first places to look when you plan to redeploy or retrain people in this role.
- Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors 68% skill overlap, about 11 months to move Exposure46
- Mental Health Counselors 67% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure43
- Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors 66% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure60
- Low Vision Therapists, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapists 65% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure51
- Recreational Therapists 64% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure47
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Rehabilitation Counselors and AI
Will AI replace Rehabilitation Counselors?
AI already handles 8 of the 17 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 58 out of 100. JobRoute scores tasks, not whole jobs, so the score shows how much of the work changes rather than whether the job disappears. BLS projects employment to change by +1.4% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Rehabilitation Counselors?
58 out of 100 on JobRoute's task exposure measure, the importance-weighted average of the role's O*NET task scores. Higher means more of the work is AI-doable today. 0 of the 17 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 17 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Rehabilitation Counselors tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Monitor and record clients' progress to ensure that goals and objectives are met; Arrange for on-site job coaching or assistive devices, such as specially equipped wheelchairs, to help clients adapt to work or school environments; Manage budgets and direct case service allocations, authorizing expenditures and payments. They are three of the 8 tasks that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A frontier-tier model or lower covers 100% of the role's importance-weighted task work. JobRoute assigns each task the lowest tier that can do it under a published rubric and recommends the lowest tier that covers 80% of the work AI can address.
How many people work as Rehabilitation Counselors, and what do they earn?
94,740 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $46,850 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of +1.4% from 2024 to 2034.
How to cite
Data version 2026-11-02, JobRoute method v1.0.0. Download all occupations or this occupation as JSON. Methodology.
JobRoute (2026). AI exposure: Rehabilitation Counselors. Data version 2026-11-02, method v1.0.0. Built on O*NET 30.3, BLS OEWS May 2025 and the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026). CC BY 4.0. https://www.jobroute.ai/jobs/rehabilitation-counselors
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample. Send this role and up to nine others, with no employee data, and a founder sends a PDF in board-pack format within two business days.
A founder replies within one business day.