State labor market
South Carolina labor market
Current statewide hiring activity plus occupation-level employment and pay for South Carolina. OEWS answers what occupations pay and how many workers BLS estimates are employed; the postings measures show more current statewide hiring activity.
Current statewide signal
South Carolina hiring snapshot
Indeed job-postings measures across all occupations in South Carolina.
Indeed job postings only. Postings are not a count of all vacancies or hires, Indeed does not cover the whole labor market, and this is statewide activity across all occupations, not an occupation health score. Each series is seasonally adjusted and indexed to its own February 1, 2020 level, so a higher index does not mean more jobs than another state. Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved Sep 26, 2026. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and differences.
Occupations & pay
Where South Carolina workers are employed
The eight largest occupations in our tracked OEWS catalog, by BLS estimated employment. These are estimated jobs held, not current openings or a count of unique people.
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand
56,700estimated employmentCustomer service representatives
51,000estimated employmentPay examples
Selected occupation pay examples
The same familiar occupations on every state page. Each U.S. figure uses the same measure (annual or hourly) as the South Carolina figure beside it.
- Registered nurses$82,360/yr South Carolina median annualU.S. $97,550/yr
- Software developers$129,450/yr South Carolina median annualU.S. $135,980/yr
- Electricians$58,740/yr South Carolina median annualU.S. $63,190/yr
- Accountants and auditors$76,560/yr South Carolina median annualU.S. $83,680/yr
- Elementary school teachers, except special education$60,820/yr South Carolina median annualU.S. $63,970/yr
- Marketing managers$143,290/yr South Carolina median annualU.S. $166,790/yr
Pay compared with the U.S.
How South Carolina occupation pay differs
Up to 5 occupations per side with at least 1,000 estimated South Carolina workers and published state and U.S. median annual wages, ordered by the largest percentage gap. Nominal wages, not adjusted for cost of living; not a demand or overall market ranking, and not a test of statistical significance.
Higher median than U.S.
- General internal medicine physicians$359,500/yr state median · 1,260 workers+40.1%vs. U.S. $256,560/yr
- Career/technical education teachers, postsecondary$79,610/yr state median · 1,980 workers+24.7%vs. U.S. $63,820/yr
- Chemical technicians$75,020/yr state median · 2,080 workers+24.2%vs. U.S. $60,390/yr
- Chefs and head cooks$71,860/yr state median · 2,650 workers+15.0%vs. U.S. $62,470/yr
- Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders$51,620/yr state median · 2,460 workers+12.8%vs. U.S. $45,760/yr
Lower median than U.S.
- Waiters and waitresses$18,370/yr state median · 47,200 workers-47.9%vs. U.S. $35,230/yr
- Bartenders$19,370/yr state median · 10,680 workers-43.6%vs. U.S. $34,340/yr
- Driver/sales workers$22,240/yr state median · 6,430 workers-42.6%vs. U.S. $38,770/yr
- Producers and directors$56,030/yr state median · 1,190 workers-38.0%vs. U.S. $90,360/yr
- Detectives and criminal investigators$62,760/yr state median · 1,470 workers-33.1%vs. U.S. $93,790/yr
Explore occupations
Occupation pay in South Carolina
Search every tracked OEWS occupation record for South Carolina. Links marked “South Carolina report” open a detailed state report; links marked “National report” open the U.S. occupation report because no South Carolina report is available.
675 occupations · showing 1–25
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), reference period May 2025; our data connection last checked Sep 23, 2026. OEWS covers wage and salary jobs and excludes the self-employed. “Top-coded” means BLS publishes only that the wage is at or above its reporting ceiling; “Not released” means BLS withheld the estimate. Missing values are never estimated. These occupation wages are separate from the QCEW industry trends on detailed occupation pages.