Curators in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,291
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$7,909
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,169
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
$47,200
Kept after tax
$39,291
Worth in national money
$42,169
State rank
48
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Carolina is among the lower-paying states for curators. The middle earner takes $47,200, ranking 48 of 49 states — about 25.58% 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: 310 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where South Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $47,200 you keep $39,291, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,169 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $55,640, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Carolina ranks 48 of 49 for curators, with a median of $47,200 — about 25.58% 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.
- Curators ranks 310 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.
- After federal, FICA and South Carolina income tax, retained pay for curators on $47,200 is $39,291. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,169 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 $55,640 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Curators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,430 |
| This salary | $47,200 |
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 | $39,291 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,105 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$898 |
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 | $46,187 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,085 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,200 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,800 and the ninetieth is $78,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In South Carolina the take-home figure of $39,291, from $47,200, 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 310 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $42,169, the adjusted value of that $47,200 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 310 of 492 locally.
- The South Carolina median of $47,200 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,800 to $78,430. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for South Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $39,291 from $47,200. 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 310 of 492 locally.
- This $42,169 adjusted figure, worked from $47,200, 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 310 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 310 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 $55,640 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 $35,800, the highest tenth $78,430, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $42,169 in national terms.
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 $39,291 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $55,640. 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 ($35,800) and the ninetieth ($78,430) 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 $42,169 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 $39,291 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.