Jobs and pay in South Carolina

The highest-paying occupations in South Carolina

Sorted by median annual wage — the midpoint of what people in the occupation are paid in this state, not what a newcomer earns. Occupations BLS did not release a wage for are absent rather than shown as zero.

4 further occupations are paid more than every figure below, but BLS publishes them only as $239,200 or more, its reporting cap: oral and maxillofacial surgeons, cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric, surgeons, all other. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. General internal medicine physicians$359,500
2. Neurologists$352,680
3. Emergency medicine physicians$341,960
4. Orthodontists$311,450
5. Obstetricians and gynecologists$302,340
6. Physicians, all other$274,480
7. Nurse anesthetists$265,480
8. Dermatologists$259,990
9. Dentists, all other specialists$246,770
10. Family medicine physicians$239,200
11. Anesthesiologists$238,970
12. Psychiatrists$237,250
13. Physicians, pathologists$236,950
14. Pediatricians, general$217,120
15. Ophthalmologists, except pediatric$214,160
16. Radiologists$174,480
17. Life scientists, all other$169,440
18. Architectural and engineering managers$169,040
19. Chief executives$168,840
20. Podiatrists$167,110
21. Law teachers, postsecondary$162,400
22. Computer and information systems managers$160,860
23. Dentists, general$158,640
24. Advertising and promotions managers$156,300
25. Optometrists$145,950

Where the jobs actually are in South Carolina

The same list sorted by how many people are employed in each occupation, which is a different question from what it pays and usually a more useful one. High pay in an occupation employing 400 people statewide is a narrower opportunity than it looks.

1. Retail salespersons67,310 employed
2. Fast food and counter workers65,070 employed
3. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand56,700 employed
4. Cashiers56,550 employed
5. Customer service representatives51,000 employed
6. Registered nurses49,750 employed
7. Waiters and waitresses47,200 employed
8. Office clerks, general42,250 employed
9. Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators42,150 employed
10. Stockers and order fillers41,800 employed
11. Home health and personal care aides40,750 employed
12. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers34,170 employed
13. General and operations managers32,230 employed
14. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive30,180 employed
15. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners30,100 employed
16. Maintenance and repair workers, general28,020 employed
17. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers26,710 employed
18. Cooks, restaurant25,890 employed
19. Elementary school teachers, except special education25,030 employed
20. Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products22,010 employed
21. Nursing assistants21,760 employed
22. Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel21,070 employed
23. First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers20,120 employed
24. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks19,980 employed
25. Construction laborers19,620 employed

The best-paid South Carolina work that typically needs no bachelor's degree

Occupations BLS reports as typically entered with an associate's degree, a postsecondary certificate, some college, a high-school diploma, or no formal credential — sorted by what they pay here. Typical is not a requirement, individual employers set their own, and many of these carry state licensing that the national figure does not capture.

1. Nuclear power reactor operators$118,620 · High school diploma or equivalent
2. Air traffic controllers$112,030 · Associate's degree
3. Nuclear technicians$108,490 · Associate's degree
4. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$106,860 · High school diploma or equivalent
5. Commercial pilots$105,740 · Postsecondary nondegree award
6. Radiation therapists$100,790 · Associate's degree
7. Postmasters and mail superintendents$98,940 · High school diploma or equivalent
8. Ship engineers$97,890 · Postsecondary nondegree award
9. Power distributors and dispatchers$91,570 · High school diploma or equivalent
10. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$91,140 · Postsecondary nondegree award
11. Elevator and escalator installers and repairers$90,860 · High school diploma or equivalent
12. Nuclear medicine technologists$90,230 · Associate's degree
13. Locomotive engineers$89,290 · High school diploma or equivalent
14. Insurance appraisers, auto damage$86,680 · Postsecondary nondegree award
15. Surgical assistants$85,580 · Postsecondary nondegree award
16. Dental hygienists$84,340 · Associate's degree
17. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$83,550 · Associate's degree
18. Diagnostic medical sonographers$83,290 · Associate's degree
19. Avionics technicians$81,720 · Postsecondary nondegree award
20. First-line supervisors of protective service workers, all other$81,330 · High school diploma or equivalent
21. Tank car, truck, and ship loaders$80,700 · No formal educational credential
22. Engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, all other$80,540 · Associate's degree
23. Transportation inspectors$80,490 · High school diploma or equivalent
24. Loading and moving machine operators, underground mining$80,480 · No formal educational credential
25. Power plant operators$79,900 · High school diploma or equivalent

A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one. CampusPin publishes the national picture of pay by entry education and which fields are actually awarded as certificates rather than degrees.

What South Carolina does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of South Carolina employment divided by its share of U.S. employment. 2.0 means twice as concentrated here as nationally. It describes where the work IS — not what it pays, and not how easy it is to be hired. Limited to occupations employing at least 500 people in the state, so a tiny base cannot manufacture a large ratio.

Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

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