Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,248
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$10,032
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,562
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
$55,280
Kept after tax
$45,248
Worth in national money
$48,562
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Carolina is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $55,280, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 12.16% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in South Carolina, this sits in the middle: 242 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $55,280 you keep $45,248 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $48,562 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $58,670, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Carolina ranks 41 of 51 for clinical laboratory technologists and technicians, with a median of $55,280 — about 12.16% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians ranks 242 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.
- Retained pay in South Carolina is $45,248 after the full tax stack, from $55,280. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $48,562 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $58,670 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,930 |
| This salary | $55,280 |
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 | $45,248 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,597 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$609 |
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 | $53,601 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$737 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $55,280 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,420 and the ninetieth is $81,930 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $45,248 take-home in South Carolina comes from $55,280. 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 242 of 492.
- Two cautions on $48,562, the adjusted value of that $55,280 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 242 of 492 locally.
- The South Carolina median of $55,280 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,420 to $81,930. 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 $45,248, from $55,280, 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 242 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 51 for it.
- This $48,562 adjusted figure, worked from $55,280, 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 242 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 242 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 $58,670 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,420, the highest tenth $81,930, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $48,562 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, $45,248 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $58,670. 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 ($36,420) and the ninetieth ($81,930) 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 $48,562 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 $45,248 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.