Editors in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,202
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$11,798
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,878
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
$62,000
Kept after tax
$50,202
Worth in national money
$53,878
State rank
31
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. South Carolina pays editors around $62,000 at the midpoint, 31 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations South Carolina reports figures for, this is number 192.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $62,000 you keep $50,202 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,878 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $67,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- For editors the South Carolina median is $62,000, ranking 31 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In South Carolina's occupational distribution, editors sits at 192 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in South Carolina is $50,202 after the full tax stack, from $62,000. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,878 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $67,920 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Editors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $119,660 |
| This salary | $62,000 |
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 | $50,202 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,997 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$369 |
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 | $59,766 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$446 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,000 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,380 and the ninetieth is $119,660 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Carolina's $50,202, worked from $62,000. 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 192 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,878 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 192.
- The South Carolina median of $62,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,380 to $119,660. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The South Carolina take-home of $50,202, on $62,000 for work ranking 192 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 192 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,878, worked from $62,000, 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 192 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 $67,920 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $39,380 at the bottom tenth to $119,660 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $53,878.
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, $50,202 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $67,920. 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 ($39,380) and the ninetieth ($119,660) 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 $53,878 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 $50,202 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.