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

May 2024 → May 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.

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%).

  1. 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).
  2. Bartenders$19,630 in Charleston-North Charleston, SC sits 42.8% below the national Bartenders median of $34,340 (3,110 published local jobs).
  3. 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).
  4. 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

Guayama, PR · lowest mean: $32KGuayama, PR · lowest mean$32KChampaign-Urbana, IL · near: $63KChampaign-Urbana, IL · near$63KReno, NV · near: $63KReno, NV · near$63KCharleston-North Cha… · this MSA: $64KCharleston-North Cha… · this…$64KBozeman, MT · near: $64KBozeman, MT · near$64KProvo-Orem-Lehi, UT · near: $64KProvo-Orem-Lehi, UT · near$64KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean: $119KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · high…$119K
Read the chart as text
Label Value
Guayama, PR · lowest mean $32K
Champaign-Urbana, IL · near $63K
Reno, NV · near $63K
Charleston-North Cha… · this MSA $64K
Bozeman, MT · near $64K
Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT · near $64K
San Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean $119K

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. 1. Sales Managers 1,660 jobs · $139,830
  2. 2. Financial Managers 1,420 jobs · $147,170
  3. 3. Physicians, All Other 1,370 jobs · $163,900
  4. 4. Computer and Information Systems Managers 940 jobs · $167,000
  5. 5. Pharmacists 920 jobs · $145,950
  6. 6. Marketing Managers 800 jobs · $138,790
  7. 7. Architectural and Engineering Managers 730 jobs · $174,040
  8. 8. Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products 730 jobs · $132,790
  9. 9. Managers, All Other 510 jobs · $136,370
  10. 10. Computer Network Architects 480 jobs · $137,930
  11. 11. Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 450 jobs · $135,410
  12. 12. Aerospace Engineers 340 jobs · $137,030
  13. 13. Chief Executives 290 jobs · $197,220
  14. 14. Computer Hardware Engineers 270 jobs · $133,430
  15. 15. Family Medicine Physicians 230 jobs · $255,650
  16. 16. Purchasing Managers 220 jobs · $138,340
  17. 17. Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists 200 jobs · $162,230
  18. 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

Price-level adjustment: Dividing the derived published-row mean of $63,519 by the metro RPP gives $62,914 on a national-price basis. This is not an after-tax income or a personal cost-of-living result.

Highest Paying Jobs in Charleston-North Charleston, SC

# Occupation Median Salary
1 Anesthesiologists $308,880
2 General Internal Medicine Physicians $303,680
3 Family Medicine Physicians $255,650
4 Nurse Anesthetists $228,740
5 Dermatologists $207,000
6 Chief Executives $197,220
7 Architectural and Engineering Managers $174,040
8 Advertising and Promotions Managers $170,000
9 Computer and Information Systems Managers $167,000
10 Physicians, All Other $163,900
11 Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists $162,230
12 Financial Examiners $158,960
13 Optometrists $154,660
14 Compensation and Benefits Managers $150,810
15 Financial Managers $147,170
16 Pharmacists $145,950
17 Sales Managers $139,830
18 Marketing Managers $138,790
19 Purchasing Managers $138,340
20 Computer Network Architects $137,930
21 Aerospace Engineers $137,030
22 Managers, All Other $136,370
23 Electronics Engineers, Except Computer $135,410
24 Computer Hardware Engineers $133,430
25 Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products $132,790

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.

Columbia, SC

SC · metropolitan area

Florence, SC

SC · metropolitan area

Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC

SC · metropolitan area

Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC

SC · metropolitan area

Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC

SC · metropolitan area
Compare Charleston-North Charleston, SC side-by-side with another metro →

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? ▼
Across the 496 occupation rows for Charleston-North Charleston, SC with both a published mean wage and employment estimate, weighting each mean by employment gives $63,519/year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The page has 513 occupations with a published median, a different denominator. This WageDex-derived benchmark is not a BLS-published All Occupations metro mean or median and does not state what a typical local worker earns. For contrast, averaging the medians of only the 25 highest-paying occupations gives $173,032, which describes the displayed top tier only.
Which published medians lead Charleston-North Charleston? ▼
Anesthesiologists holds the highest published median in Charleston-North Charleston, SC at $308,880/year (BLS OEWS May 2025). Next is General Internal Medicine Physicians at $303,680/year. These are occupation medians for this metropolitan statistical area, not employer offers.
What is the cost of living in Charleston-North Charleston, SC? ▼
Charleston-North Charleston, SC has a Regional Price Parity of 101.0, meaning prices are 1% above the national average. Dividing the derived published-row mean of $63,519 by the RPP gives a national-price-equivalent benchmark of $62,914.
Where does BLS salary data for Charleston-North Charleston come from? ▼
All salary figures are Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2025 estimates for this metropolitan statistical area. OEWS surveys approximately 1.1 million business establishments. Medians and means on this page are the published occupation-level estimates for the area — not job-board scrapes or modeled employer offers.

Related federal data

BLS OEWS, metro wage tables → BEA Regional Price Parities →

Last updated: May 2025 (BLS OEWS annual release). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025. Cost-of-living index: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024.

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.

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