Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,397
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$8,303
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,355
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
$48,700
Kept after tax
$40,397
Worth in national money
$43,355
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Carolina pays this job a middle wage of $48,700, 40 of 49 states and about 11.6% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 289 among 492 occupations South Carolina publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,700 you keep $40,397 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,355 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $59,820, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Carolina's $48,700 median for environmental science and protection technicians, including health places it 40 of 49 states, about 11.6% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 289 of 492 in South Carolina places environmental science and protection technicians, including health in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in South Carolina is $40,397 after the full tax stack, from $48,700. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,355 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $59,820 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,550 |
| This salary | $48,700 |
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 | $40,397 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,310 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$844 |
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 | $47,563 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,021 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in South Carolina earn less than $48,700. The published range is $37,440 up to $102,550, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $40,397 take-home in South Carolina comes from $48,700. 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 289 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,355 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 289.
- Reported values are medians; for environmental science and protection technicians, including health in South Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,440 to $102,550. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $40,397, from $48,700, 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 289 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,355, worked from $48,700, 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 289 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 $59,820 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $37,440 and the top tenth $102,550 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $43,355 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $40,397 remains.
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 $59,820. 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 ($37,440) and the ninetieth ($102,550) 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 $43,355 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 $40,397 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.