Prices, pay, taxes, homes and family budgets, county by county, from the same official data the site's calculators use.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures price levels in every state against a national average of 100. South Carolina scores 93.7 overall, so a $75,000 salary at average US prices buys what $70,312 buys here. Compare any salary with another state.
| Price level | South Carolina (US = 100) | Rank, most expensive first |
|---|---|---|
| Everything | 93.7 | 33rd of 51 |
| Rents | 80.5 | 31st of 51 |
| Goods | 96.3 | — |
| Other services | 98.3 | — |
Home electricity averaged 14.23 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2024, against 17.06 across all states. A gallon of regular gas cost $3.64 at the end of August 2026, against $4.12.
Across all 2,305,080 jobs the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts in South Carolina, the median pay is $46,490 a year, or $22.35 an hour; that ranks 45th of the 50 states and DC. One worker in ten earns less than $27,070 and one in ten more than $103,010.
South Carolina taxes wages in brackets, with a top rate of 5.21%. The brackets in South Carolina. A single filer on the median $46,490, with no retirement or health deductions, takes home about $38,079 a year, or $1,465 every two weeks, after $3,399 of federal income tax, $3,556 of Social Security and Medicare and $1,456 of state income tax. Work out your own paycheck in South Carolina.
The five occupations employing the most people, with their median annual pay:
| Occupation | Jobs | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Salespersons | 67,310 | $30,690 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 65,070 | $27,520 |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 56,700 | $37,530 |
| Cashiers | 56,550 | $28,530 |
| Customer Service Representatives | 51,000 | $38,860 |
Of the 20 largest occupations, the best paid are general and operations managers ($106,080), registered nurses ($82,360), sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products ($64,250). See what common jobs pay in every state.
Across the 46 South Carolina counties with their own Zillow home value, the median typical home is worth $215,534, and across the 29 with their own rent figure the median typical rent is $1,523 a month. A typical home costs 3.06 years of the county's median family income, at the median county.
With 10% down at 7.03%, the average 30-year rate on September 24, 2026, that home costs about $1,755 a month with tax, insurance and mortgage insurance, which takes $75,212 a year of income under the usual 28% guideline. The median family can afford its own county's typical home in 28.3% of South Carolina's counties, against 44.9% of counties nationally. Try it with your own income.
At the median county, home values changed +1.1% over the past year and +20.9% over five years, and rents +2.3% over the past year.
The most expensive South Carolina counties are Charleston County ($617,997), Beaufort County ($555,638) and Jasper County ($398,650); the least expensive are Allendale County ($68,316), Marlboro County ($85,339) and Dillon County ($119,119).
The Economic Policy Institute prices what a modest but adequate standard of living costs in every county: housing, food, transport, healthcare, childcare, other necessities and taxes. In the median South Carolina county, that comes to $44,771 a year for one adult and $92,769 for two adults and two children, of which $17,033 is childcare. The national averages are $47,367 and $101,771. Median family income in the median county is $71,828.
| Two adults, two children | Per year, median county | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | $11,808 | $984 |
| Food | $11,182 | $932 |
| Transportation | $18,191 | $1,516 |
| Healthcare | $16,336 | $1,361 |
| Childcare | $17,033 | $1,419 |
| Other necessities | $7,179 | $598 |
| Taxes | $11,365 | $947 |
Each line is its own median across counties, so the lines do not add up exactly to the total.
The Department of Education's College Scorecard lists 88 colleges in South Carolina, 34 of them public. The median public college reports a cost of attendance of $20,853 a year, covering tuition, housing, books and other expenses. Ten years after enrolling, the median school's former students earn $38,826. Compare degrees and schools.
| Abbeville County | $210,985 | +2.5% | — | $67,031 | $90,999 |
| Aiken County | $246,685 | +3.1% | $1,505 | $82,999 | $100,337 |
| Allendale County | $68,316 | −4.4% | — | $52,257 | $89,400 |
| Anderson County | $293,217 | +1.7% | $1,369 | $78,036 | $99,419 |
| Bamberg County | $126,653 | −8.4% | — | $61,554 | $89,597 |
| Barnwell County | $167,421 | −1.0% | $1,200 | $56,726 | $88,100 |
| Beaufort County | $555,638 | +1.2% | $2,010 | $100,697 | $121,581 |
| Berkeley County | $376,003 | −0.4% | $1,976 | $94,812 | $121,421 |
| Calhoun County | $209,975 | +3.5% | — | $76,938 | $97,860 |
| Charleston County | $617,997 | +1.0% | $2,176 | $112,791 | $118,990 |
| Cherokee County | $191,977 | −3.8% | $1,076 | $66,859 | $92,273 |
| Chester County | $213,049 | −2.2% | — | $61,343 | $94,427 |
| Chesterfield County | $177,730 | +2.5% | — | $59,566 | $91,010 |
| Clarendon County | $187,572 | −4.7% | — | $65,925 | $89,337 |
| Colleton County | $256,348 | −0.4% | — | $61,250 | $92,259 |
| Darlington County | $171,127 | +12.0% | $1,226 | $62,738 | $92,588 |
| Dillon County | $119,119 | +7.2% | — | $48,608 | $89,089 |
| Dorchester County | $350,084 | −1.0% | $1,758 | $93,301 | $115,692 |
| Edgefield County | $281,868 | +0.9% | $1,650 | $83,677 | $91,995 |
| Fairfield County | $188,084 | +2.1% | $1,906 | $65,224 | $97,087 |
| Florence County | $204,380 | +4.1% | $1,440 | $76,991 | $97,566 |
| Georgetown County | $388,789 | −0.6% | $1,815 | $80,033 | $92,466 |
| Greenville County | $340,295 | +2.1% | $1,609 | $92,013 | $108,250 |
| Greenwood County | $178,347 | 0.0% | $1,231 | $69,847 | $86,455 |
| Hampton County | $151,244 | +0.2% | — | $55,914 | $92,950 |
| Horry County | $321,007 | −0.2% | $1,684 | $77,159 | $103,452 |
| Jasper County | $398,650 | −5.0% | $1,679 | $72,745 | $99,749 |
| Kershaw County | $259,845 | +2.9% | $1,927 | $77,712 | $92,311 |
| Lancaster County | $386,823 | −2.2% | $1,724 | $91,114 | $106,787 |
| Laurens County | $201,181 | −2.2% | $1,415 | $70,911 | $89,870 |
| Lee County | $150,719 | −7.5% | — | $60,492 | $91,031 |
| Lexington County | $274,819 | +1.4% | $1,689 | $89,968 | $105,752 |
| Marion County | $144,687 | −3.1% | — | $47,288 | $86,937 |
| Marlboro County | $85,339 | −2.8% | — | $50,795 | $88,644 |
| McCormick County | $324,022 | +5.8% | — | $79,432 | $91,642 |
| Newberry County | $226,258 | +4.6% | $1,364 | $73,829 | $93,681 |
| Oconee County | $293,603 | +2.6% | $1,443 | $76,111 | $92,003 |
| Orangeburg County | $164,481 | +4.1% | $1,318 | $56,567 | $87,888 |
| Pickens County | $309,162 | +2.4% | $1,491 | $78,651 | $100,410 |
| Richland County | $245,186 | +1.2% | $1,510 | $84,362 | $105,508 |
| Saluda County | $218,019 | +2.6% | — | $66,953 | $94,442 |
| Spartanburg County | $278,707 | +1.7% | $1,513 | $77,847 | $106,618 |
| Sumter County | $204,805 | +1.5% | $1,523 | $69,653 | $99,101 |
| Union County | $136,474 | +4.7% | — | $58,513 | $91,502 |
| Williamsburg County | $131,928 | −4.3% | — | $56,399 | $90,298 |
| York County | $392,403 | −1.2% | $1,643 | $107,287 | $119,456 |
A dash means the source publishes no figure for that county. Home values and rents are Zillow's own county figures only; counties Zillow does not cover are left blank rather than filled with a state average.
Charlotte, NC (typical rent $1,756), Greenville, SC (typical rent $1,577), Columbia, SC (typical rent $1,562), Charleston, SC (typical rent $2,063), Augusta, GA (typical rent $1,510).
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County figures are medians across South Carolina's counties, each counting once, so they describe the spread of places rather than of people. Property tax and insurance vary widely; the calculators let you use your own.