Correctional Officers and Jailers in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,800
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$8,090
16.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,714
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
$47,890
Kept after tax
$39,800
Worth in national money
$42,714
State rank
41
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Carolina pays this job a middle wage of $47,890, 41 of 49 states and about 18.75% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in South Carolina, this sits in the middle: 299 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 $47,890 the take-home is $39,800; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,714 would nationally. The average comes to $51,520, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- South Carolina's $47,890 median for correctional officers and jailers places it 41 of 49 states, about 18.75% 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.
- Correctional officers and jailers ranks 299 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 correctional officers and jailers in South Carolina, on $47,890, is $39,800 — equivalent to $42,714 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 $51,520 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Correctional Officers and Jailers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,390 |
| This salary | $47,890 |
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 | $39,800 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,660 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$873 |
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 | $46,820 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,056 |
| 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 $47,890. The published range is $40,090 up to $71,390, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Carolina's $39,800, worked from $47,890. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 299 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $42,714 uses one figure for the whole of South Carolina. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 299.
- Reported values are medians; for correctional officers and jailers in South Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,090 to $71,390. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The South Carolina take-home of $39,800, on $47,890 for work ranking 299 of 492 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 299 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $42,714, worked from $47,890, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular South Carolina address, on work sitting at 299 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 $51,520, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $40,090 at the bottom tenth to $71,390 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $42,714 in national terms.
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, $39,800 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $51,520. 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 ($40,090 to $71,390) 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 $42,714 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 $39,800 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.