Charleston-North Charleston, SC Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Charleston-North Charleston, SC - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Charleston-North Charleston, SC moved from $47,620 in May 2024 to $49,150 in May 2025 (+3.2%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Charleston-North Charleston, SC sits +0.1 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Based on wage level, year-over-year wage growth, and regional-price-parity-adjusted purchasing power from BLS and BEA sources, not job availability, industry mix, or day-to-day livability.
Waiters and Waitresses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Charleston-North Charleston, SC
Waiters and Waitresses publishes $19,340 here versus $35,230 nationally (-45.1%; 9,580metro-area jobs). Next is Bartenders at $19,630 locally versus $34,340 nationally (-42.8%).
- Waiters and Waitresses$19,340 in Charleston-North Charleston, SC sits 45.1% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (9,580 published local jobs).
- Bartenders$19,630 in Charleston-North Charleston, SC sits 42.8% below the national Bartenders median of $34,340 (3,110 published local jobs).
- Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary$28,040 in Charleston-North Charleston, SC sits 23.8% below the national Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary median of $36,780 (2,370 published local jobs).
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$60,570 in Charleston-North Charleston, SC sits 20.5% below the national Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers median of $76,210 (2,320 published local jobs).
Waiters and Waitresses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Charleston-North Charleston, SC; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 16700 · Charleston-North Charleston, SC $64K mean
MEAN-HIGH · RPP-MID · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-HIGH #126/528
- RPP-MID 101.0
- OCC-MOST 513 occs
- TOP-LEAD Anesthesiologi… · $309K
- EMP-MIX Sales Managers
- TREND-INLINE +0.1 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Bozeman, MT
- BOOK-FULL 496 rows · May 2025
Read with Bozeman, MT (+$32 on published-row mean) · Highest-paying careers
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer, not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Charleston-North Charleston
Employment scale inside Charleston-North Charleston, SC's top-pay list
Sales Managers and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Charleston-North Charleston, SC's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Sales Managers 1,660 jobs · $139,830
- 2. Financial Managers 1,420 jobs · $147,170
- 3. Physicians, All Other 1,370 jobs · $163,900
- 4. Computer and Information Systems Managers 940 jobs · $167,000
- 5. Pharmacists 920 jobs · $145,950
- 6. Marketing Managers 800 jobs · $138,790
- 7. Architectural and Engineering Managers 730 jobs · $174,040
- 8. Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products 730 jobs · $132,790
- 9. Managers, All Other 510 jobs · $136,370
- 10. Computer Network Architects 480 jobs · $137,930
- 11. Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 450 jobs · $135,410
- 12. Aerospace Engineers 340 jobs · $137,030
- 13. Chief Executives 290 jobs · $197,220
- 14. Computer Hardware Engineers 270 jobs · $133,430
- 15. Family Medicine Physicians 230 jobs · $255,650
- 16. Purchasing Managers 220 jobs · $138,340
- 17. Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists 200 jobs · $162,230
- 18. General Internal Medicine Physicians 80 jobs · $303,680
Occupations Tracked
513
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$63,519
employment-weighted, 496 complete rows
Top Salary
$308,880
Anesthesiologists
Cost of Living
101.0
1% above US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Charleston-North Charleston, SC
Lowest Paying Jobs in Charleston-North Charleston, SC
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Waiters and Waitresses | $19,340 |
| Bartenders | $19,630 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $22,230 |
| Baggage Porters and Bellhops | $24,950 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $26,410 |
| Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary | $28,040 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $28,500 |
| Passenger Attendants | $28,710 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $29,140 |
| Packers and Packagers, Hand | $29,200 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in SC
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside SC. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($63,519 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average salary in Charleston-North Charleston, SC? ▼
Which published medians lead Charleston-North Charleston? ▼
What is the cost of living in Charleston-North Charleston, SC? ▼
Where does BLS salary data for Charleston-North Charleston come from? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Charleston-North Charleston, SC wage figures in a real decision
- Anesthesiologists leads published medians in Charleston-North Charleston, SC at $308,880/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Anesthesiologists
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $63,519 adjusts to about $62,914 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 101.0. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for SC before treating one geography as the other. State wage page
BLS OEWS estimates reflect the May 2025 reference period; small occupation-area cells can be suppressed, and figures are not employer offers.
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.