Tax Preparers in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,211
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$6,009
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,643
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
$39,220
Kept after tax
$33,211
Worth in national money
$35,643
State rank
40
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for tax preparers is on the low side in South Carolina. The middle earner gets $39,220. That is 40 of 48 states, and about 28.59% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations South Carolina publishes, tax preparers lands at 391. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where South Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $39,220 you keep $33,211, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,643 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $51,220, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For tax preparers, South Carolina sits in the lower band at $39,220, ranking 40 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 28.59%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within South Carolina, this work ranks 391 of 492 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and South Carolina income tax, retained pay for tax preparers on $39,220 is $33,211. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,643 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $51,220 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,220 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,880 |
| This salary | $39,220 |
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 | $33,211 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,693 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$970 |
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 | $38,620 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,174 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of tax preparers in South Carolina earn under $39,220 and half over. The published range runs $28,040 at the tenth percentile to $80,880 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In South Carolina the take-home figure of $33,211, from $39,220, 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 391 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $35,643, the adjusted value of that $39,220 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 391 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for tax preparers in South Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,040 to $80,880; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for South Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $33,211 from $39,220. 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 391 of 492 locally.
- This $35,643 adjusted figure, worked from $39,220, 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 391 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 391 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 $51,220, 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 $28,040 and the top tenth $80,880 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $35,643 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 $33,211 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $51,220. 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 ($28,040) and the ninetieth ($80,880) 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 $35,643 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 $33,211 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.