Accountants and Auditors in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,929
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$16,631
21.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,318
South Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in South Carolina — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$76,560
Kept after tax
$59,929
Worth in national money
$64,318
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Carolina pays accountants and auditors a middle wage of $76,560, 40 of 51 states and about 8.51% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Accountants and auditors ranks 124 among 492 occupations South Carolina publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $76,560 you keep $59,929 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $64,318 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $85,390, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Carolina's $76,560 median for accountants and auditors places it 40 of 51 states, about 8.51% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 124 of 492 in South Carolina places accountants and auditors in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in South Carolina is $59,929 after the full tax stack, from $76,560. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $64,318 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $85,390 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Accountants and Auditors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $131,220 |
| This salary | $76,560 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in South Carolina | $59,929 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,690 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$195 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $72,636 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$269 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of accountants and auditors in South Carolina earn under $76,560 and half over. The published range runs $50,370 at the tenth percentile to $131,220 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In South Carolina the take-home figure of $59,929, from $76,560, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 124 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of South Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $64,318, the adjusted value of that $76,560 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 124 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for accountants and auditors in South Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,370 to $131,220; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for South Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $59,929 from $76,560. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 124 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $64,318 — the adjusted value of that $76,560 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 124 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $85,390, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $50,370 and the top tenth $131,220 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $64,318.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; South Carolina then takes its own share, leaving $59,929.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in South Carolina is $85,390. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($50,370) and the ninetieth ($131,220) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
South Carolina's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $64,318 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $59,929 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and South Carolina income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.