Mechanical Engineers salary in Columbia, SC
SOC 17-2141 · BLS OEWS May 2025
How local pay compares
State-level comparison: South Carolina ($104,580). Metro estimates cover the whole labor market, including portions that cross state lines.
After local prices: the $102,280 median has purchasing power comparable to about $109,201 nationally. Columbia, SC's BEA regional price parity is 93.7 (2024).
What the local range looks like
The wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the darker section is the middle half, and the tick is the median for Columbia, SC.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter
- Bachelor's degree
- Related work experience
- None
- On-the-job training
- None
Compare other metro areas
Every linked area below has a published estimate for mechanical engineers. Missing areas were withheld by BLS rather than measured at zero.
The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.
| # | Metro area | Median | Cost of living | Employed | Concentrationvs. national |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC | $128,740 | 91.9 | 980 | 2.21× |
| 2 | Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC | $120,070 | 93.6 | 60 | 0.21× |
| 3 | Charleston-North Charleston, SC | $110,820 | 101.0 | 940 | 1.26× |
| 4 | Spartanburg, SC | $104,990 | 91.1 | 520 | 1.64× |
| 5 | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC | $104,150 | 98.0 | 40 | 0.23× |
| 6 | Florence, SC | $103,800 | 86.8 | 130 | 0.78× |
| 7 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | $101,950 | 97.3 | 2,470 | 0.95× |
| 8 | Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC | $101,570 | 93.3 | 1,800 | 2.17× |
| 9 | Sumter, SC | $101,010 | 88.0 | 40 | 0.65× |
Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where mechanical engineers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.
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