Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,865
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$16,025
21.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,176
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
$74,890
Kept after tax
$58,865
Worth in national money
$63,176
State rank
42
of 50 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 $74,890. That is 42 of 50 states, and about 6.78% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 136 among 492 occupations South Carolina publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $74,890 you keep $58,865 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $63,176 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $81,520, since top earners drag the number up.
- For psychology teachers, postsecondary, South Carolina sits in the lower band at $74,890, ranking 42 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 6.78%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 136 of 492 in South Carolina places psychology teachers, postsecondary in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in South Carolina is $58,865 after the full tax stack, from $74,890. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $63,176 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $81,520 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $125,340 |
| This salary | $74,890 |
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 | $58,865 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,515 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$128 |
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 | $71,123 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$176 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $74,890 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,760 and the ninetieth is $125,340 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Carolina's $58,865, worked from $74,890. 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 136 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $63,176 uses one figure for the whole of South Carolina. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 136.
- The South Carolina median of $74,890 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,760 to $125,340. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The South Carolina take-home of $58,865, on $74,890 for work ranking 136 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 136 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $63,176, worked from $74,890, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular South Carolina address, on work sitting at 136 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 $81,520, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $48,760 and the top tenth $125,340 — 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 $63,176.
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 $58,865 of this wage survives to your account.
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 50 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 $81,520. 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 ($48,760) and the ninetieth ($125,340) 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 $63,176 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 $58,865 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.