Wages in South Carolina outpaced the national average in the third quarter of 2025, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
South Carolina’s wages grew by nearly 5% over the year ending last September. That’s a little better than the overall U.S. average of 4.7%. The state’s number was fueled largely by especially good wage growth in Charleston County. Wages in Charleston grew 6.2% between Q3 of 2024 and Q3 of last year.
Charleston was the state’s only large county to better the U.S. average. Greenville, Horry, and Lexington counties were statistically equal in growth. York County’s wages did grow over the 12-month period, but York had the least wage growth among the state’s large counties, at 3.2%.
No information was presented about Spartanburg County.
This all made South Carolina the 11th-fastest growing state for wages compared to a year earlier, even as the state’s average weekly wages lagged behind the national average. The U.S. average weekly wage ending Q3 was $1,459; the average weekly wage in South Carolina was $1,198.
South Carolina’s earnings varied greatly across different counties. The highest average wages in South Carolina in Q3 were in Charleston ($1,363 per week) and Berkeley ($1,302 per week) counties. The lowest were in McCormick ($807 per week) and Clarendon ($830 per week).
That means that, on average, workers in McCormick County make $2,224 less per month than workers in Charleston County. The average rent in McCormick County at the end of March was $2,100 per month (65% of the average wage), according to Zillow. The average rent in Charleston County was $2,850 (52% of the average wage).
The rate of jobs growth, however, was faster here than in the U.S. overall. Job growth nationally was a statistically flat 0.1%. Jobs in South Carolina grew by 0.7%.
Twenty-five states plus Washington, D.C., saw losses in the number of jobs. North Carolina and Georgia saw job gains of 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.
