High paying food service jobs in South Carolina with no degree
The best paid food service occupations in South Carolina that require no bachelor's degree — a high school diploma, a certificate, or an associate's degree is the typical entry. This is the narrowest cut on the site, so it is also the shortest list: where a field has only two or three such occupations, there is no page at all rather than a page pretending otherwise.
Cost of living: prices in South Carolina run 6.3% below the national average (2024), so a South Carolina salary is worth about 1.07× its face value in national terms. That scales every wage here by the same factor — it changes what the numbers mean, not their order. To see where a job pays a real premium, use jobs that pay more in South Carolina.
Wages: BLS OEWS, May 2025 · Cost of living: BEA regional price parities, 2024
High school diploma or equivalent
$47,640 – $88,8802,650High school diploma or equivalent
$28,120 – $63,08020,120No formal educational credential
$26,200 – $45,68025,890No formal educational credential
$21,890 – $42,6807,850No formal educational credential
$22,990 – $40,37014,460No formal educational credential
$19,100 – $37,4802,990No formal educational credential
$22,670 – $34,480900No formal educational credential
$22,290 – $36,1507,550No formal educational credential
$22,340 – $35,02065,070No formal educational credential
$21,690 – $37,1409,110No formal educational credential
$17,740 – $37,2307,990No formal educational credential
$17,100 – $36,7806,220No formal educational credential
$17,600 – $34,110850No formal educational credential
$15,080 – $59,43010,680No formal educational credential
$15,080 – $46,82047,200
Bars run from the 10th to the 90th percentile; the middle half is shaded darker, and the tick is the median.
| # | Occupation | MedianSouth Carolina | 10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chefs and Head CooksHigh school diploma or equivalent | $71,860 | $47,640 – $88,880 | 2,650 |
| 2 | First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving WorkersHigh school diploma or equivalent | $38,520 | $28,120 – $63,080 | 20,120 |
| 3 | Cooks, RestaurantNo formal educational credential | $35,740 | $26,200 – $45,680 | 25,890 |
| 4 | Cooks, Institution and CafeteriaNo formal educational credential | $34,960 | $21,890 – $42,680 | 7,850 |
| 5 | Food Preparation WorkersNo formal educational credential | $32,180 | $22,990 – $40,370 | 14,460 |
| 6 | Food Servers, NonrestaurantNo formal educational credential | $31,740 | $19,100 – $37,480 | 2,990 |
| 7 | Cooks, Short OrderNo formal educational credential | $29,640 | $22,670 – $34,480 | 900 |
| 8 | DishwashersNo formal educational credential | $29,160 | $22,290 – $36,150 | 7,550 |
| 9 | Fast Food and Counter WorkersNo formal educational credential | $27,520 | $22,340 – $35,020 | 65,070 |
| 10 | Cooks, Fast FoodNo formal educational credential | $27,420 | $21,690 – $37,140 | 9,110 |
| 11 | Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee ShopNo formal educational credential | $27,000 | $17,740 – $37,230 | 7,990 |
| 12 | Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender HelpersNo formal educational credential | $26,830 | $17,100 – $36,780 | 6,220 |
| 13 | Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All OtherNo formal educational credential | $22,230 | $17,600 – $34,110 | 850 |
| 14 | BartendersNo formal educational credential | $19,370 | $15,080 – $59,430 | 10,680 |
| 15 | Waiters and WaitressesNo formal educational credential | $18,370 | $15,080 – $46,820 | 47,200 |
Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in South Carolina. The rarer ones are real jobs — but a 1,190-person occupation at the top of a list answers a different question than the one most readers are asking.
More for South Carolina
- High paying jobs in South Carolina
- High paying jobs in South Carolina that need no degree
- High paying jobs in South Carolina that need no experience
- High paying entry level jobs in South Carolina
- Fastest growing jobs in South Carolina, 2024–34
- Fastest declining jobs in South Carolina, 2024–34
- Jobs that actually got a raise in South Carolina
- Jobs that lost the most to inflation in South Carolina
- Jobs that pay the biggest premium in South Carolina
Metro areas in South Carolina
Pay varies more between metros than between states — the spread inside one state is often wider than the gap between two.
By field in South Carolina
- High paying management jobs in South Carolina
- High paying business and finance jobs in South Carolina
- High paying tech and IT jobs in South Carolina
- High paying engineering and architecture jobs in South Carolina
- High paying social service jobs in South Carolina
- High paying teaching and library jobs in South Carolina
- High paying creative and media jobs in South Carolina
- High paying medical jobs in South Carolina
- High paying healthcare support jobs in South Carolina
- High paying security and protective service jobs in South Carolina
- High paying food service jobs in South Carolina
- High paying cleaning and grounds jobs in South Carolina
- High paying personal care jobs in South Carolina
- High paying sales jobs in South Carolina
- High paying office and admin jobs in South Carolina
- High paying construction jobs in South Carolina
- High paying repair and maintenance jobs in South Carolina
- High paying production jobs in South Carolina
- High paying transportation jobs in South Carolina
Without a degree
The same fields, narrowed to what you can enter without one. Fields missing here have too few such occupations in South Carolina to rank honestly.
- High paying engineering and architecture jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying engineering and architecture jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying medical jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying medical jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying healthcare support jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying healthcare support jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying security and protective service jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying security and protective service jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying food service jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying cleaning and grounds jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying personal care jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying personal care jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying sales jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying sales jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying office and admin jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying office and admin jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying construction jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying construction jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying repair and maintenance jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying repair and maintenance jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying production jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying production jobs in South Carolina with no experience
- High paying transportation jobs in South Carolina with no degree
- High paying transportation jobs in South Carolina with no experience
High paying food service jobs in each state with no degree
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Guam
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Puerto Rico
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virgin Islands
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming