Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,961
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$10,999
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,473
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
$58,960
Kept after tax
$47,961
Worth in national money
$51,473
State rank
31
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. South Carolina is 31 of 50 states for this job, with a middle wage of $58,960. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in South Carolina, this sits in the middle: 217 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- South Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $58,960 the take-home is $47,961; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $51,473 would nationally. The average comes to $63,860, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- South Carolina ranks 31 of 50 for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other at $58,960. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Life, physical, and social science technicians, all other ranks 217 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.
- Post-tax income for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in South Carolina, on $58,960, is $47,961 — equivalent to $51,473 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $63,860 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,670 |
| This salary | $58,960 |
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 | $47,961 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,554 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$478 |
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 | $56,977 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$578 |
| 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 life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in South Carolina earn under $58,960 and half over. The published range runs $38,170 at the tenth percentile to $101,670 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $47,961 take-home in South Carolina comes from $58,960. 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 217 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 $51,473, the adjusted value of that $58,960 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 217 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in South Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,170 to $101,670; 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 $47,961, from $58,960, 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 217 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $51,473 — the adjusted value of that $58,960 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 217 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 $63,860, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $38,170, the highest tenth $101,670, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. South Carolina is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $51,473 in national terms.
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, $47,961 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 $63,860. 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 ($38,170) and the ninetieth ($101,670) 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 $51,473 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 $47,961 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.