Industrial Machinery Mechanics in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,445
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$11,885
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,139
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
$62,330
Kept after tax
$50,445
Worth in national money
$54,139
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Carolina pays this job a middle wage of $62,330, 40 of 51 states and about 3.39% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 188 among 492 occupations South Carolina publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $62,330 you keep $50,445 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,139 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $64,280, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Carolina's $62,330 median for industrial machinery mechanics places it 40 of 51 states, about 3.39% 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 188 of 492 in South Carolina places industrial machinery mechanics 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 $50,445 after the full tax stack, from $62,330. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,139 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $64,280 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Industrial Machinery Mechanics
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,050 |
| This salary | $62,330 |
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 | $50,445 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,262 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$357 |
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 | $60,068 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$432 |
| 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 industrial machinery mechanics in South Carolina earn under $62,330 and half over. The published range runs $45,060 at the tenth percentile to $83,050 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $50,445 take-home in South Carolina comes from $62,330. 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 188 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,139 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 188.
- Figures are distribution medians for industrial machinery mechanics in South Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,060 to $83,050; 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 $50,445, from $62,330, 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 188 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,139, worked from $62,330, 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 188 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 $64,280, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $45,060 and the top tenth $83,050, so most people doing this work in South Carolina sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $54,139 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $50,445 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $64,280. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,060 to $83,050) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to South Carolina rather than a national figure.
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 $54,139 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 $50,445 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.