Project Coordinator salary in Columbia, SC

Pay in Columbia against South Carolina and the US

Project coordinators at the 90th percentile earn $147,460, 2.7 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.7. The middle half of project coordinators in Columbia earns $65,660–$117,890. The mean ($94,620) is 11% 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 only $52,230 wide, against $52,520 across South Carolina and $54,660 nationally: employers in Columbia pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a project coordinator here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $32,630 over the median, the 25th only $19,600 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $42,103 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 $102,320 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Columbia, and the South Carolina statewide median of $95,040 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Columbia

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 $24,753 to the $85,260 median and brings it to $110,013 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 project coordinators 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 Columbia

Project coordinators have the highest median of the 17 roles we track in Columbia; virtual receptionists have the lowest, at $35,530.

Measured against the US median, project coordinators rank #14 of the 17 roles we track in Columbia (-16.7%), between customer support specialists (-16.4%) and accountants (-17.3%). The typical role here is at -10.5%, so, measured against the US, project coordinators cost less in Columbia than the area's general pay level would suggest. Project coordinators hold 5.1% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Columbia, 6.8% across South Carolina and 6.7% 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 11 areas of South Carolina with data for this job, the median runs from $77,410 in Myrtle Beach-Conway to $96,810 in Spartanburg, a gap of $19,400 a year. All 2 areas in South Carolina with more project coordinators than Columbia also pay more, among them Greenville-Anderson, SC ($94,780) and Charleston-North Charleston, SC ($94,730).

Columbia against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Columbia is #64 of 517 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, Amherst Town-Northampton and Oklahoma City pay just above Columbia and Sherman-Denison and Memphis just below. All four are within $140 a year of the median in Columbia. Of the three markets with about as many project coordinators, all three pay more.

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Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.