Occupational Therapists in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,672
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$25,458
25.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$81,213
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
$101,130
Kept after tax
$75,672
Worth in national money
$81,213
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. South Carolina is 18 of 51 states for occupational therapists, with a middle wage of $101,130. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 492 occupations South Carolina reports, occupational therapists comes in at 49 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- South Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $101,130 the take-home is $75,672; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $81,213 would nationally. The average lands at $97,180, below the middle of the range.
- South Carolina ranks 18 of 51 for occupational therapists at $101,130. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Occupational therapists ranks 49 of 492 occupations by median in South Carolina, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for occupational therapists in South Carolina, on $101,130, is $75,672 — equivalent to $81,213 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 $97,180 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Occupational Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $75,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,110 |
| This salary | $101,130 |
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 | $75,672 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,975 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,087 |
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 | $95,014 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,501 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $101,130 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $75,370 and the ninetieth is $123,110 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $75,672 take-home in South Carolina comes from $101,130. 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 49 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 $81,213, the adjusted value of that $101,130 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 49 of 492 in the state.
- The South Carolina median of $101,130 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $75,370 to $123,110. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $75,672, from $101,130, 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 49 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $81,213 — the adjusted value of that $101,130 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 49 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 $97,180, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $75,370 at the tenth percentile, $123,110 at the ninetieth.
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 $81,213 in national terms.
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 $75,672 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 $97,180. 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 ($75,370 to $123,110) 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 $81,213 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 $75,672 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.