Business Teachers, Postsecondary in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,376
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$17,454
22.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,870
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
$78,830
Kept after tax
$61,376
Worth in national money
$65,870
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Carolina pays this job a middle wage of $78,830, 45 of 51 states and about 20.44% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in South Carolina. It ranks 108 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $78,830 you keep $61,376 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $65,870 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $96,220, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Carolina's $78,830 median for business teachers, postsecondary places it 45 of 51 states, about 20.44% 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.
- Within South Carolina, business teachers, postsecondary ranks 108 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.
- Retained pay in South Carolina is $61,376 after the full tax stack, from $78,830. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $65,870 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $96,220 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Business Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $172,580 |
| This salary | $78,830 |
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 | $61,376 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,287 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$286 |
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 | $74,692 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$395 |
| 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 business teachers, postsecondary in South Carolina earn under $78,830 and half over. The published range runs $38,780 at the tenth percentile to $172,580 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In South Carolina the take-home figure of $61,376, from $78,830, 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 108 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 $65,870, the adjusted value of that $78,830 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 108 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for business teachers, postsecondary in South Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,780 to $172,580; 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 $61,376 from $78,830. 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 108 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $65,870 — the adjusted value of that $78,830 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 108 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $96,220, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $38,780, the highest tenth $172,580, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $65,870 in national terms.
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 $61,376.
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 $96,220. 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 ($38,780) and the ninetieth ($172,580) 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 $65,870 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 $61,376 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.