Carpet Installers in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,972
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$4,838
14.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,094
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
$33,810
Kept after tax
$28,972
Worth in national money
$31,094
State rank
45
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Carolina pays carpet installers a middle wage of $33,810, 45 of 45 states and about 32.84% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within South Carolina this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, carpet installers ranks 451. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where South Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $33,810 you keep $28,972, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $31,094 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $39,780, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Carolina's $33,810 median for carpet installers places it 45 of 45 states, about 32.84% 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.
- Against every occupation South Carolina reports, carpet installers ranks 451 of 492, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and South Carolina income tax, retained pay for carpet installers on $33,810 is $28,972. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $31,094 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 $39,780 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Carpet Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,270 |
| This salary | $33,810 |
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 | $28,972 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,346 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$894 |
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 | $33,344 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,081 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $33,810 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,920 and the ninetieth is $51,270 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $28,972 take-home in South Carolina comes from $33,810. 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 451 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of South Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,094, the adjusted value of that $33,810 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 451 of 492 in the state.
- The South Carolina median of $33,810 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,920 to $51,270. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $28,972, from $33,810, 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 451 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $31,094 — the adjusted value of that $33,810 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 451 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $39,780 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,920 at the bottom tenth to $51,270 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,094.
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 $28,972 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $39,780. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($29,920 to $51,270) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to South Carolina rather than a national figure.
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 $31,094 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 $28,972 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.