Art Directors in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,213
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$20,777
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,134
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
$87,990
Kept after tax
$67,213
Worth in national money
$72,134
State rank
27
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. South Carolina pays art directors around $87,990 at the midpoint, 27 of 46 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in South Carolina. It ranks 77 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where South Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $87,990 you keep $67,213, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $72,134 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $105,970, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For art directors the South Carolina median is $87,990, ranking 27 of 46 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within South Carolina, art directors ranks 77 of 492 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After federal, FICA and South Carolina income tax, retained pay for art directors on $87,990 is $67,213. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $72,134 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $105,970 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $87,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $180,030 |
| This salary | $87,990 |
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 | $67,213 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $70,731 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$653 |
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 | $82,989 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$902 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $87,990 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $64,380 and the ninetieth is $180,030 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In South Carolina the take-home figure of $67,213, from $87,990, 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 77 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $72,134, the adjusted value of that $87,990 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of South Carolina. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 77 of 492 locally.
- The South Carolina median of $87,990 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $64,380 to $180,030. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for South Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $67,213 from $87,990. 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 77 of 492 locally.
- This $72,134 adjusted figure, worked from $87,990, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 77 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 77 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 $105,970, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $64,380, the highest tenth $180,030, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $72,134.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and South Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $67,213 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $105,970. 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 ($64,380) and the ninetieth ($180,030) 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 $72,134 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 $67,213 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.