Crossing Guards and Flaggers in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,094
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$4,596
14.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,152
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
$32,690
Kept after tax
$28,094
Worth in national money
$30,152
State rank
41
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for crossing guards and flaggers is on the low side in South Carolina. The middle earner gets $32,690. That is 41 of 49 states, and about 14.2% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations South Carolina publishes, crossing guards and flaggers lands at 455. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where South Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $32,690 you keep $28,094, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $30,152 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $39,460, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For crossing guards and flaggers, South Carolina sits in the lower band at $32,690, ranking 41 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 14.2%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within South Carolina, this work ranks 455 of 492 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and South Carolina income tax, retained pay for crossing guards and flaggers on $32,690 is $28,094. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $30,152 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 $39,460 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Crossing Guards and Flaggers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,020 |
| This salary | $32,690 |
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 | $28,094 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,446 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$878 |
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 | $32,252 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,062 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $32,690 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,690 and the ninetieth is $76,020 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $28,094 take-home in South Carolina comes from $32,690. 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 455 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 $30,152, the adjusted value of that $32,690 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 455 of 492 in the state.
- The South Carolina median of $32,690 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,690 to $76,020. 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 $28,094, from $32,690, 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 455 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $30,152 — the adjusted value of that $32,690 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 455 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 $39,460, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $28,690 at the bottom tenth to $76,020 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $30,152 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $28,094 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $39,460. 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 ($28,690) and the ninetieth ($76,020) 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 $30,152 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 $28,094 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.