Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,469
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$3,361
12.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,188
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
$26,830
Kept after tax
$23,469
Worth in national money
$25,188
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in South Carolina. The middle earner gets $26,830. That is 43 of 51 states, and about 21.04% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations South Carolina publishes, this job lands at 485. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $26,830 you keep $23,469 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $25,188 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $27,260, since top earners drag the number up.
- For dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers, South Carolina sits in the lower band at $26,830, ranking 43 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 21.04%. 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 485 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.
- Retained pay in South Carolina is $23,469 after the full tax stack, from $26,830. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $25,188 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $27,260 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $17,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $26,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,780 |
| This salary | $26,830 |
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 | $23,469 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $23,705 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$794 |
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 | $26,544 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$937 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in South Carolina earn under $26,830 and half over. The published range runs $17,100 at the tenth percentile to $36,780 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Carolina's $23,469, worked from $26,830. 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 485 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 $25,188, the adjusted value of that $26,830 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 485 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in South Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $17,100 to $36,780; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The South Carolina take-home of $23,469, on $26,830 for work ranking 485 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 485 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $25,188 — the adjusted value of that $26,830 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 485 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $17,100, the highest tenth $36,780, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $25,188.
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 $23,469 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($17,100) and the ninetieth ($36,780) 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 $25,188 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 $23,469 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.