Audio and Video Technicians in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,830
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$9,170
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,966
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
$52,000
Kept after tax
$42,830
Worth in national money
$45,966
State rank
22
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. South Carolina pays audio and video technicians around $52,000 at the midpoint, 22 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Audio and video technicians ranks 259 among 492 occupations South Carolina publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $52,000 you keep $42,830 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $45,966 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $65,240, since top earners drag the number up.
- For audio and video technicians the South Carolina median is $52,000, ranking 22 of 49 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.
- Position 259 of 492 in South Carolina places audio and video technicians 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 $42,830 after the full tax stack, from $52,000. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,966 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $65,240 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Audio and Video Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $113,840 |
| This salary | $52,000 |
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 | $42,830 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,962 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$726 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $50,591 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$878 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in South Carolina earn less than $52,000. The published range is $40,570 up to $113,840, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $42,830 take-home in South Carolina comes from $52,000. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 259 of 492.
- Two cautions on $45,966, the adjusted value of that $52,000 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 259 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for audio and video technicians in South Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,570 to $113,840. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $42,830, from $52,000, assumes a single South Carolina filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 259 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 49 for it.
- This $45,966 adjusted figure, worked from $52,000, 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 259 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 259 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 $65,240, 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 $40,570 and the top tenth $113,840 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. South Carolina is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $45,966 in national terms.
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 $42,830 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 49 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 $65,240. 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 ($40,570) and the ninetieth ($113,840) 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 $45,966 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 $42,830 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.