Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,887
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$5,643
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,222
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
$37,530
Kept after tax
$31,887
Worth in national money
$34,222
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 $37,530. That is 43 of 51 states, and about 6.73% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations South Carolina publishes, this job lands at 408. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where South Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,530 you keep $31,887, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,222 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $39,140, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand, South Carolina sits in the lower band at $37,530, ranking 43 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 6.73%. 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 408 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.
- After federal, FICA and South Carolina income tax, retained pay for laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand on $37,530 is $31,887. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,222 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $39,140 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,230 |
| This salary | $37,530 |
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 | $31,887 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,335 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$947 |
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 | $36,972 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,145 |
| 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 laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand in South Carolina earn under $37,530 and half over. The published range runs $29,830 at the tenth percentile to $48,230 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 $31,887, worked from $37,530. 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 408 of 492.
- Two cautions on $34,222, the adjusted value of that $37,530 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of South Carolina. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 408 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand in South Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,830 to $48,230; 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 $31,887, on $37,530 for work ranking 408 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 408 of 492 in the state.
- This $34,222 adjusted figure, worked from $37,530, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 408 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 408 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $39,140, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,830 at the tenth percentile, $48,230 at the ninetieth.
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 $34,222.
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 $31,887 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 $39,140. 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 ($29,830 to $48,230) 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 $34,222 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 $31,887 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.