Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,833
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$11,667
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,482
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
$61,500
Kept after tax
$49,833
Worth in national money
$53,482
State rank
19
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Carolina sits in the middle of the pack for earth drillers, except oil and gas. The median is $61,500, ranking 19 of 48 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in South Carolina, this sits in the middle: 195 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 $61,500 you keep $49,833 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,482 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $68,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Carolina occupies the middle band for earth drillers, except oil and gas: a median of $61,500, ranking 19 of 48. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 195 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 $49,833 after the full tax stack, from $61,500. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,482 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $68,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $122,300 |
| This salary | $61,500 |
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 | $49,833 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,595 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$387 |
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 | $59,307 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$468 |
| 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 earth drillers, except oil and gas in South Carolina earn under $61,500 and half over. The published range runs $39,990 at the tenth percentile to $122,300 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $49,833 take-home in South Carolina comes from $61,500. 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 195 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 $53,482, the adjusted value of that $61,500 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 195 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for earth drillers, except oil and gas in South Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,990 to $122,300; 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.
- Retained pay of $49,833, from $61,500, 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 195 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $53,482 — the adjusted value of that $61,500 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 195 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $68,660, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $39,990, the highest tenth $122,300, 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 $53,482.
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, $49,833 remains.
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 48 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 $68,660. 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 ($39,990) and the ninetieth ($122,300) 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 $53,482 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 $49,833 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.