Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,574
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$8,366
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,546
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
$48,940
Kept after tax
$40,574
Worth in national money
$43,546
State rank
46
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 $48,940. That is 46 of 51 states, and about 18.23% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations South Carolina reports figures for, this is number 287.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,940 you keep $40,574 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,546 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $51,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, South Carolina sits in the lower band at $48,940, ranking 46 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 18.23%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In South Carolina's occupational distribution, operating engineers and other construction equipment operators sits at 287 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in South Carolina is $40,574 after the full tax stack, from $48,940. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,546 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $51,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,330 |
| This salary | $48,940 |
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 | $40,574 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,503 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$836 |
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 | $47,784 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,011 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,940 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,720 and the ninetieth is $64,330 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $40,574 take-home in South Carolina comes from $48,940. 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 287 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 $43,546, the adjusted value of that $48,940 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 287 of 492 in the state.
- The South Carolina median of $48,940 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,720 to $64,330. 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 $40,574, from $48,940, 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 287 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $43,546 — the adjusted value of that $48,940 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 287 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 $51,640 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,720 at the bottom tenth to $64,330 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $43,546 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 $40,574 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 $51,640. 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 ($38,720 to $64,330) 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 $43,546 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 $40,574 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.