Clergy in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,243
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$10,387
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,629
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
$56,630
Kept after tax
$46,243
Worth in national money
$49,629
State rank
41
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Carolina pays clergy a middle wage of $56,630, 41 of 50 states and about 6.87% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in South Carolina, this sits in the middle: 233 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- South Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $56,630 the take-home is $46,243; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $49,629 would nationally. The average comes to $58,590, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- South Carolina's $56,630 median for clergy places it 41 of 50 states, about 6.87% 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.
- Clergy ranks 233 of 492 occupations in South Carolina by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for clergy in South Carolina, on $56,630, is $46,243 — equivalent to $49,629 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $58,590 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Clergy
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,950 |
| This salary | $56,630 |
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 | $46,243 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,682 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$561 |
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 | $54,839 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$679 |
| 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 $56,630. The published range is $42,110 up to $79,950, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In South Carolina the take-home figure of $46,243, from $56,630, 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 233 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $49,629, the adjusted value of that $56,630 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 233 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for clergy in South Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $42,110 to $79,950. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for South Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $46,243 from $56,630. 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 233 of 492 locally.
- This $49,629 adjusted figure, worked from $56,630, 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 233 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 233 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 $58,590, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $42,110 and the top tenth $79,950, so most people doing this work in South Carolina sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in South Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $49,629 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and South Carolina's own levy, $46,243 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $58,590. 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 ($42,110 to $79,950) 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 $49,629 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 $46,243 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.