Payroll Specialist salary in Charleston-North Charleston, SC

Pay in Charleston-North Charleston against South Carolina and the US

The middle half of payroll specialists in Charleston-North Charleston earns $49,270–$69,680. The top tenth earns $84,290 or more, 2.0 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 2.1 times. The mean ($58,550) is 9% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $20,410 wide, between the figure for South Carolina ($16,900) and the US figure ($21,610).

What to budget for a payroll specialist here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $15,750 over the median, the 25th only $4,660 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $20,323 a year in employer cost. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $58,260 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Charleston-North Charleston, and the South Carolina statewide median of $52,240 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Charleston-North Charleston

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $15,657 to the $53,930 median and brings it to $69,587 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for payroll specialists we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Charleston-North Charleston

Of the 17 roles we track in Charleston-North Charleston, this one ranks #9 by median pay, between paralegals ($57,030) and bookkeepers ($50,400). Project Coordinator is the highest at $94,730.

Measured against the US median, payroll specialists rank #13 of the 17 roles we track in Charleston-North Charleston (-7.4%), between project coordinators (-7.4%) and paralegals (-9.3%). The typical role here is at -5.2%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Payroll specialists hold 0.7% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Charleston-North Charleston, 0.6% across South Carolina and 1.0% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in South Carolina

Across the 9 areas of South Carolina with data for this job, the median runs from $47,800 in the Northwestern South Carolina nonmetro area to $54,150 in Spartanburg, a gap of $6,350 a year. No other area in South Carolina has as many payroll specialists, and 7 of the other 8 pay less.

Charleston-North Charleston against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Charleston-North Charleston is #81 of 482 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside South Carolina, Crestview-Fort Walton Beach and York-Hanover pay just above Charleston-North Charleston and Grand Junction and Reading just below. All four are within $250 a year of the median in Charleston-North Charleston. Of the three markets with about as many payroll specialists, none pays as much.

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Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-13.