Columbia, SC Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Columbia, SC - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Columbia, SC moved from $45,380 in May 2024 to $46,430 in May 2025 (+2.3%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Columbia, SC sits -0.8 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Waiters and Waitresses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Columbia, SC
Waiters and Waitresses publishes $17,810 here versus $35,230 nationally (-49.4%; 6,580metro-area jobs). Next is Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel at $48,570 locally versus $69,990 nationally (-30.6%).
- Waiters and Waitresses$17,810 in Columbia, SC sits 49.4% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (6,580 published local jobs).
- Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel$48,570 in Columbia, SC sits 30.6% below the national Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel median of $69,990 (3,400 published local jobs).
- Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary$27,860 in Columbia, SC sits 24.3% below the national Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary median of $36,780 (2,680 published local jobs).
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$59,260 in Columbia, SC sits 22.2% below the national Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers median of $76,210 (2,840 published local jobs).
Waiters and Waitresses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Columbia, SC; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 17900 · Columbia, SC $58K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #254/528
- RPP-LOW 93.7
- OCC-MOST 510 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $374K
- EMP-MIX Sales Managers
- TREND-INLINE -0.8 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Maryland nonmetr…
- BOOK-FULL 502 rows · May 2025
Read with Maryland nonmetropolitan area (+$0 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 Columbia, SC
Employment scale inside Columbia, SC's top-pay list
Sales Managers and Physicians, All Other lead published employment inside Columbia, SC's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Sales Managers 1,360 jobs · $128,650
- 2. Physicians, All Other 1,050 jobs · $374,300
- 3. Pharmacists 1,050 jobs · $133,850
- 4. Computer and Information Systems Managers 990 jobs · $141,570
- 5. Industrial Production Managers 850 jobs · $128,050
- 6. Marketing Managers 560 jobs · $136,930
- 7. Dentists, General 480 jobs · $228,820
- 8. Managers, All Other 410 jobs · $129,960
- 9. Architectural and Engineering Managers 360 jobs · $162,260
- 10. Chief Executives 320 jobs · $176,890
- 11. Database Architects 240 jobs · $135,790
- 12. Business Teachers, Postsecondary 230 jobs · $129,380
- 13. Nurse Anesthetists 210 jobs · $271,350
- 14. Veterinarians 210 jobs · $129,960
- 15. Nuclear Engineers 120 jobs · $128,340
- 16. Family Medicine Physicians 100 jobs · $224,360
- 17. Psychiatrists 90 jobs · $251,060
- 18. Optometrists 90 jobs · $156,350
Occupations Tracked
510
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$58,252
employment-weighted, 502 complete rows
Top Salary
$374,300
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
93.7
6% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Columbia, SC
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Physicians, All Other | $374,300 |
| 2 | Obstetricians and Gynecologists | $296,020 |
| 3 | Anesthesiologists | $290,620 |
| 4 | Nurse Anesthetists | $271,350 |
| 5 | Psychiatrists | $251,060 |
| 6 | Dentists, General | $228,820 |
| 7 | Family Medicine Physicians | $224,360 |
| 8 | Chief Executives | $176,890 |
| 9 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $162,260 |
| 10 | Advertising and Promotions Managers | $159,950 |
| 11 | Optometrists | $156,350 |
| 12 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $141,570 |
| 13 | Marketing Managers | $136,930 |
| 14 | Database Architects | $135,790 |
| 15 | Pharmacists | $133,850 |
| 16 | Actuaries | $133,060 |
| 17 | Psychologists, All Other | $130,580 |
| 18 | Managers, All Other | $129,960 |
| 19 | Veterinarians | $129,960 |
| 20 | Computer Hardware Engineers | $129,830 |
| 21 | Business Teachers, Postsecondary | $129,380 |
| 22 | Sales Managers | $128,650 |
| 23 | Nuclear Engineers | $128,340 |
| 24 | Industrial Production Managers | $128,050 |
| 25 | Administrative Services Managers | $126,680 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Columbia, SC
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Waiters and Waitresses | $17,810 |
| Bartenders | $19,230 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $20,920 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $22,400 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $22,880 |
| Driver/Sales Workers | $22,900 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $23,070 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $25,720 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $26,720 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $27,170 |
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 ($58,252 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
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Related federal data
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.