How much do electricians make in South Carolina in 2026?

The median electrician salary in South Carolina is $58,740 per year, which works out to roughly $28.24 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025, and covers electricians across the state — residential, commercial, and industrial.

The full spread tells you more than the median alone. Electricians at the 25th percentile earn $47,910 a year, or about $23.03 an hour. That's typically where you'll find workers in the first few years after completing an apprenticeship, or those doing mostly residential service work. The 75th percentile sits at $66,190 annually — roughly $31.82 an hour — and that's where experienced journeymen, specialty workers, and those in higher-paying sectors tend to land. The gap between the bottom and top quartile is more than $18,000 a year, so where you work and what you specialize in genuinely matters.

South Carolina's electrical workforce is spread across several distinct labor markets. The Charlotte metro bleeds across the border and pulls some workers into higher-wage North Carolina rates, but for workers based and employed in SC, the Greenville-Spartanburg corridor and the Charleston metro generally offer the strongest wages in the state. Industrial and manufacturing work — South Carolina has a significant automotive and advanced manufacturing base in the Upstate — tends to pay better than residential new construction. The I-26 and I-85 corridors have seen steady commercial and industrial growth, which keeps demand for qualified electricians solid.

Experience is the single biggest lever on your pay within this state's range. A first-year apprentice will typically start below the 25th percentile figure here; the BLS data captures employed journeymen and licensed electricians, not apprentices. By the time you've logged five to seven years of post-apprenticeship experience and picked up your South Carolina Journeyman Electrician license, you're realistically looking at wages in the median-to-upper range. South Carolina requires passing a state licensing exam through the Contractors' Licensing Board, and holding a valid journeyman or master license makes you eligible for a broader range of employers and project types.

Overtime is a real factor that BLS base wages don't capture. Electricians on commercial or industrial projects frequently work 50-plus hours a week during peak phases, and time-and-a-half adds up fast. An electrician earning $28 an hour who works 300 hours of overtime in a year takes home roughly an additional $12,600 before taxes. That can push total annual earnings well above the 75th percentile figure even for someone whose base rate sits at the median.

Sector matters too. Industrial maintenance electricians — keeping manufacturing lines running, handling PLCs and motor controls — typically earn more than residential wiremen doing new-home rough-ins. Commercial work in healthcare, data centers, and large retail falls somewhere in between. South Carolina's growing data center footprint, particularly in the Midlands and Upstate regions, has created demand for electricians with low-voltage and critical-infrastructure experience, and that specialty commands a premium.

Some electricians in South Carolina work under collective bargaining agreements. If you're covered by a union agreement, your wages and benefits are set by that contract rather than the open market — check your agreement directly for the current scale. The figures on this page reflect the full employed workforce, union and non-union combined.

To move your pay toward or above the 75th percentile, the clearest paths are: obtain your South Carolina Master Electrician license, add industrial or specialty certifications (think NFPA 70E, PLC training, low-voltage), target sectors like manufacturing maintenance or data center construction, and consider larger commercial contractors who work prevailing-wage government projects. A master license also opens the door to pulling permits and eventually running your own shop, which changes the pay ceiling entirely.