Psychiatrists in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$163,417
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$73,833
31.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$175,383
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
$237,250
Kept after tax
$163,417
Worth in national money
$175,383
State rank
33
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for psychiatrists is on the low side in South Carolina. The middle earner gets $237,250. That is 33 of 46 states, and about 15.83% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Within South Carolina this is well-paid work. Of 492 occupations with published figures in the state, psychiatrists ranks 3 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- South Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $237,250 the take-home is $163,417; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $175,383 would nationally. The average lands at $226,360, below the middle of the range.
- For psychiatrists, South Carolina sits in the lower band at $237,250, ranking 33 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 15.83%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Ranked against every occupation South Carolina publishes a median for, psychiatrists sits 3 of 492 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for psychiatrists in South Carolina, on $237,250, is $163,417 — equivalent to $175,383 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 $226,360 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Psychiatrists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $129,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $237,250 |
| Top tenth earn over | $308,430 |
| This salary | $237,250 |
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 | $163,417 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $174,812 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,510 |
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 | $219,893 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,676 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $237,250 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $129,250 and the ninetieth is $308,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $163,417 take-home in South Carolina comes from $237,250. 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 3 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 $175,383, the adjusted value of that $237,250 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 3 of 492 in the state.
- The South Carolina median of $237,250 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $129,250 to $308,430. 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 $163,417, from $237,250, 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 3 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $175,383 — the adjusted value of that $237,250 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 3 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 $226,360, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $129,250 and the top tenth $308,430 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $175,383.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; South Carolina then takes its own share, leaving $163,417.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $226,360. 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 ($129,250) and the ninetieth ($308,430) 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 $175,383 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 $163,417 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.