What Office Clerks, General earn in Richland County, SC
According to the latest federal wage data for the Columbia, SC metropolitan area, the median pay for Office Clerks, General in Richland County, SC is $38,320 a year, or $18.42 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $32,150 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Richland County, SC.
The mean wage is $39,960, which is 4.3% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,260 people working in this occupation across the Columbia, SC metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Richland County, SC has roughly 422,117 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Office Clerks, General in the Columbia, SC metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $23,000 a year ($11.06 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $57,980 or more ($27.88 an hour). That is a gap of $34,980 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $31,700 at the 25th percentile and $47,090 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.5 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $18.42 an hour or $38,320 a year at the median for Richland County, SC. Before any deductions, that is $3,193 a month, $1,474 every two weeks and $737 each week. After taxes the same job pays $15.46 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Office Clerks, General
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Office Clerks, General this way: "Perform duties too varied and diverse to be classified in any specific office clerical occupation, requiring knowledge of office systems and procedures. Clerical duties may be assigned in accordance with the office procedures of individual establishments and may include a combination of answering telephones, bookkeeping, typing or word processing, office machine operation, and filing."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Communicate with customers, employees, and other individuals to answer questions, disseminate or explain information, take orders, and address complaints"; "Answer telephones, direct calls, and take messages"; "Compile, copy, sort, and file records of office activities, business transactions, and other activities"; "Operate office machines, such as photocopiers and scanners, facsimile machines, voice mail systems, and personal computers".
Job outlook for Office Clerks, General
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 2,600,000 jobs in 2025 to 2,443,700 in 2035, a change of -6%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 249,000 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.6% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $45,010 for this occupation; the Richland County, SC median of $38,320 is 14.9% below it.
How pay in Richland County, SC compares
Compared with the South Carolina average
Pay in Richland County, SC runs $920 below the South Carolina average of $39,240, a gap of 2.3%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of South Carolina would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within South Carolina, the highest median we track for this job is $44,010 in York County, SC.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Office Clerks, General is $44,586 across the contiguous United States. At $38,320, Richland County, SC pays $6,266 less, which is 14.1% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Richland County, SC
Among the 465 occupations with published wages in Richland County, SC, Office Clerks, General ranks number 374 by median pay, ahead of about 20% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $81,920 a year, which is $43,600 more than the median for Office Clerks, General.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Office Clerks, General earning the Richland County, SC median of $38,320, they add up to $6,170. The result is $32,150 of take-home pay a year ($2,679 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.1%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $22,570. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $2,470, an effective 6.4% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,376 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $556. FICA totals $2,931, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in South Carolina
South Carolina income tax on this salary is $768 a year, or 2.0% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 31% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $64 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Richland County, SC
IRS Statistics of Income data for Richland County, SC show an average adjusted gross income of $72,956 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.4% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.7%, compared with the 6.4% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Richland County, SC
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Richland County, SC: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $32,150 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Richland County, SC, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,126 a month ($13,512 a year), and at $1,226 for two bedrooms. For Office Clerks, General, a one-bedroom absorbs 42.0% of take-home pay and 35.3% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 9.0% of gross pay for Office Clerks, General in Richland County, SC. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using South Carolina residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,504 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $667, for $2,171 in total. Gasoline in South Carolina averages $2.99 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,385.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $20,504 a year in Richland County, SC. Subtract that from $32,150 of take-home pay and $11,647 remains, which is $971 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 30.4% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Richland County, SC
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Richland County, SC: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Richland County, SC, set beside the South Carolina and national medians.
Property taxes in Richland County, SC
Homeowners in Richland County, SC pay a median of $1,637 a year in real estate taxes, 31% above the South Carolina median of $1,251 and 48% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $242,800, the median tax bill is 0.67% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Office Clerks, General median of $38,320, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Richland County, SC
Renters in Richland County, SC pay a median gross rent of $1,228 a month in the Census survey, 4% above the South Carolina median of $1,180. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,126 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $242,800, 6% below the South Carolina median of $259,000. Median household income is $63,784, 8% below the South Carolina median of $69,324, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 21.2% of that income.
Commuting in Richland County, SC
Workers in Richland County, SC who travel to a workplace spend an average of 23.1 minutes each way, 10% below the South Carolina average of 25.6. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.9 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 12.5% of workers in Richland County, SC work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Office Clerks, General afford to live in Richland County, SC?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $38,320 that ceiling is $958 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,126 is $168 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $21.65 an hour; the median for Office Clerks, General is $18.42, which is 15% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.46 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 16.8 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,226 a month means $613 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,156 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $17,803.
How fast you can save
At $971 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 11 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 22 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Office Clerks, General pay in Richland County, SC
How much do Office Clerks, General make per hour in Richland County, SC?
The median is $18.42 per hour, based on $38,320 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $11.06 at the 10th percentile to $27.88 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Office Clerks, General take home after taxes in Richland County, SC?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $38,320 becomes $32,150 a year. That is $2,679 a month, $1,237 every two weeks or $618 a week.
How much tax do Office Clerks, General pay in Richland County, SC?
Total taxes are $6,170 a year, an effective rate of 16.1%: $2,470 federal income tax, $2,931 FICA and $768 South Carolina income tax.
Do Office Clerks, General earn more in Richland County, SC than elsewhere in South Carolina?
No. The local median of $38,320 is -2.3% versus the South Carolina average of $39,240, a difference of $920 a year.
Can Office Clerks, General afford a one-bedroom apartment in Richland County, SC?
A one-bedroom costs $1,126 a month against take-home pay of $2,679, which is 42.0% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $958 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Office Clerks, General in Richland County, SC?
About $971 a month ($11,647 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $20,504 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Richland County, SC at the 30% guideline?
$21.65 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $13,512 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Office Clerks, General is $18.42.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Columbia, SC metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the South Carolina rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.