Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,894
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$7,766
16.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,742
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
$46,660
Kept after tax
$38,894
Worth in national money
$41,742
State rank
37
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Carolina pays this job a middle wage of $46,660, 37 of 49 states and about 6.46% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in South Carolina, this sits in the middle: 320 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $46,660 you keep $38,894 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $41,742 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $46,510.
- South Carolina's $46,660 median for septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners places it 37 of 49 states, about 6.46% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners ranks 320 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.
- Retained pay in South Carolina is $38,894 after the full tax stack, from $46,660. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $41,742 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $46,510 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,440 |
| This salary | $46,660 |
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 | $38,894 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,671 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$917 |
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 | $45,692 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,109 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,660 as a midpoint for South Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,350 and the ninetieth is $59,440 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In South Carolina the take-home figure of $38,894, from $46,660, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 320 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $41,742, the adjusted value of that $46,660 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of South Carolina. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 320 of 492 locally.
- The South Carolina median of $46,660 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,350 to $59,440. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for South Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,894 from $46,660. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 320 of 492 locally.
- This $41,742 adjusted figure, worked from $46,660, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 320 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 320 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $33,350 and the top tenth $59,440, so most people doing this work in South Carolina sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in South Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $41,742 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $38,894 remains.
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 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($33,350 to $59,440) 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 $41,742 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 $38,894 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.