South Carolina nurse salary 2026: RN, NP & travel pay

South Carolina RNs average $87,670/yr — 14% below the national mean — driven by right-to-work law, minimal union presence, and wages that haven't kept pace with the state's rapidly growing coastal and upstate populations. The real opportunity here is in the CRNA market and in specialty RN pay. Here's what the numbers actually show.

South Carolina RN Salary 2026: What the Numbers Show

South Carolina registered nurses average $87,670 per year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release — $13,750 below the national mean of $101,420, a gap of 13.6%. That deficit is real and persistent. SC is a right-to-work state with virtually no hospital union presence, and its historical reliance on rural and community hospital infrastructure has kept baseline wages lower than peer southeastern states like North Carolina ($92,950) and Virginia ($93,850).

At an hourly rate, South Carolina RNs average $42.15/hr. New graduates at MUSC Health and Prisma Health typically start in the $29–$34/hr range; experienced RNs in specialty units at those systems can reach $44–$52/hr. Charleston commands the highest wages in the state — MUSC's academic medical center and the Roper St. Francis system compete for staff in a tight metro labor market that's absorbed significant population growth. Greenville and the Upstate have seen Prisma Health expand aggressively, with some compression in wages as the system absorbs legacy Greenville Health System and Palmetto Health pay scales.

Where South Carolina Nurses Work: Major Employers & Pay

South Carolina's hospital market organizes around three geographic clusters: the Charleston metro (led by MUSC Health and Roper St. Francis Healthcare), the Greenville-Spartanburg Upstate corridor (anchored by Prisma Health), and the Columbia midlands (Prisma Health Richland and Lexington Medical Center). A large swath of rural counties — particularly in the Pee Dee region, Lowcountry, and Santee Cooper corridor — depends on smaller regional and critical-access facilities that offer the most persistent staffing shortages in the state.

MUSC Health (Charleston): The Medical University of South Carolina is South Carolina's academic medical center and the state's most complex hospital environment. MUSC Health operates a Level I Trauma Center, NCI-designated cancer center, and one of the Southeast's active transplant programs. RN wages at MUSC range approximately $35–$52/hr depending on unit and experience. MUSC's academic mission and case complexity attract specialty nurses and CRNAs at premium rates — it is the single highest-paying nursing employer in the state for most specialties. Charleston's cost of living — particularly housing — has risen sharply in recent years, partially offsetting the wage advantage over inland SC markets.

Prisma Health (Greenville, Columbia, Upstate): The largest health system in South Carolina by bed count, operating Greenville Memorial Medical Center (Level I Trauma), Richland Medical Campus (Columbia, Level I Trauma), and multiple community hospitals across the Upstate and Midlands. Prisma Health RNs earn approximately $38–$50/hr, with posted salaries averaging $94,388/yr (ZipRecruiter April 2026). The system's 2017 merger of Greenville Health System and Palmetto Health created some wage disparities between legacy campuses that are still being normalized. Prisma's Upstate expansion into Spartanburg, Easley, and Baptist Easley has increased hiring volume significantly over 2024–2026.

Roper St. Francis Healthcare (Charleston): A Bon Secours Mercy Health affiliate operating Roper Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, and Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital in the Charleston metro. RN wages run $34–$48/hr. The system competes directly with MUSC for Charleston-area nursing talent, particularly in cardiac, surgical, and oncology nursing. It's consistently listed among Glassdoor's better-rated SC nursing employers for culture and management.

Tidelands Health (Myrtle Beach / Grand Strand): The dominant health system along South Carolina's 60-mile Grand Strand coastline, operating Tidelands Health George Bishop Shull Campus and Conway Medical Center. A high-retiree, seasonally variable patient population creates predictable staffing demand spikes from fall through spring. RN wages run $30–$43/hr — lower than Charleston or Greenville, but housing costs in Horry County are significantly more affordable than the Charleston metro. For nurses seeking coastal access and lower cost of living, the Grand Strand corridor is a legitimate option.

Lexington Medical Center (Columbia): A standalone not-for-profit community hospital in West Columbia, consistently ranked among SC's best places to work. RN wages run $32–$46/hr. Lexington Medical has historically maintained strong nurse retention through a unit-based culture and competitive benefit packages, making it notable in a state where staff turnover is a persistent operational challenge.

Travel Nursing in South Carolina: Pay, Demand & Compact Advantage

South Carolina travel nurses average $93,846/year posted (ZipRecruiter 2026), with total package compensation closer to $105,000–$110,000 annually when tax-free housing and meal stipends are included — based on Vivian Health's South Carolina contract data and federal GSA per diem rates for Charleston, Greenville, and Columbia. The posted rate sits about 7% below the national travel average, reflecting the state's lower base wages, but the package-to-posted ratio in SC is often favorable because federal per diem rates in coastal markets like Charleston and Myrtle Beach are relatively high.

South Carolina is an eNLC compact state, which means nurses with multistate licenses from any of the 40+ compact member states can activate South Carolina contracts in 2–4 weeks. That speed matters: MUSC Health and Prisma Health both pull travelers to cover census spikes with limited lead time, particularly in ICU, step-down, and ED units.

Seasonal demand is a real factor in SC. The Grand Strand and Lowcountry coastal corridor sees significant patient volume increases from October through April driven by retiree snowbird populations and golf tourism. Myrtle Beach area hospitals — Tidelands Health and Grand Strand Medical Center (HCA Healthcare) — ramp up travel hiring during this window, sometimes offering higher package rates than the rest of the year to attract candidates. Columbia's Prisma Health Richland and Lexington Medical maintain year-round volume from trauma and tertiary referrals, making them more stable for consistent contract work.

Nurse Practitioner & CRNA Pay in South Carolina

South Carolina is not a full practice authority state. NPs must practice under a written practice agreement with a physician. Companion bills to grant full practice authority after 2,000 clinical hours (H. 3580 and S. 45) were introduced in January 2025 but had not left committee as of September 2026.

Correction, September 30, 2026: an earlier version of this page said South Carolina granted nurse practitioners full practice authority in 2025. It did not.

Current NP wages reflect that framework: $113,950 per year (BLS May 2025), which is 17% below the national mean of $137,300. The practice agreement requirement makes independent NP clinics harder to run in the rural and underserved parts of the state that need them most, which limits NP pay leverage. If H. 3580 or S. 45 passes, that is the change to watch.

South Carolina CRNAs average $229,297 (TheCRNA.com 2026 dataset) — 7.7% below the national mean of $248,320, but still among the highest-paying clinical roles in the state. MUSC Health anchors the premium segment of the CRNA market, with its complex transplant, cardiac, and neurosurgical programs requiring advanced anesthesia expertise. Prisma Health's two Level I Trauma Centers in Greenville and Columbia generate consistent CRNA volume, and the rural hospital network creates locum CRNA demand at rates that can run substantially above the state average for nurses willing to travel within SC.

ICU, ER & Specialty Nursing Pay in South Carolina

South Carolina ICU nurses average $100,920/year (ZipRecruiter 2026) — an 15.1% premium over the state's baseline RN mean that reflects the critical care skill premium found nationally. MUSC Health's ICU complex handles post-transplant, cardiac surgery, and high-acuity neurological cases that rival any academic medical center in the Southeast. The Neurosciences ICU and CVICU at MUSC post RN wages in the $46–$55/hr range for experienced CCRN-certified nurses.

Emergency room nurses in South Carolina average $80,488/year — 7.2% below the national ER average of $86,737. The state's dual Level I Trauma Centers at MUSC and Prisma Health Greenville generate high-acuity ER volume, but without union contracts pushing a specialty pay premium above base RN rates, SC ER nurses capture less of a wage differential than nurses in states with formal ER pay scales.

Specialty nursing worth noting: OR nurses at MUSC Health earn $44–$56/hr with experience; L&D nurses across major SC systems average $38–$48/hr; behavioral health nurses — a chronically understaffed specialty in SC — earn $34–$46/hr at facilities like the Palmetto Behavioral Health system and inpatient psychiatric units at Prisma Health. SC has significant rural behavioral health access gaps, which is translating into some above-average pay for psych-certified nurses willing to work in smaller market hospitals.

Pediatric nursing in SC concentrates at MUSC's Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital in Charleston — the state's only Level I Pediatric Trauma Center. Pediatric RN wages at Shawn Jenkins run $36–$52/hr depending on unit and certification. The facility opened in 2020 and has been actively recruiting pediatric-trained nurses since, including with travel contracts that compete with specialty peds rates nationally.

South Carolina Income Tax & Cost of Living: What $87K Actually Takes Home

South Carolina has a progressive state income tax with a flat top rate of 6.4% on income above $17,030 (2026 rates). The SC legislature has been phasing the top rate down — it stood at 7% in 2022, hit 6.4% in 2024, and is scheduled to reach 6.2% by 2027 if revenue benchmarks are met. For a single filer earning $87,670, the effective SC state tax rate runs approximately 5.8–6.2%, combined with 22% federal marginal and FICA of 7.65%. Net annual take-home for an SC RN at the state mean is approximately $60,000–$64,000 depending on retirement contributions and filing status.

Cost of living is South Carolina's clearest economic argument. The SC statewide cost-of-living index runs 88–92 (national average = 100), making it one of the more affordable states for nurses despite the below-average wages. Columbia and the Midlands markets run around 86–90; Greenville is 90–95; Charleston is 100–108 given the coastal premium on housing. Myrtle Beach and Conway sit around 88–92 — affordable relative to most coastal markets nationally.

The practical implication: an SC nurse earning $87,670 in Columbia with a cost-of-living index of 88 has roughly the same real purchasing power as a nurse earning $99,625 at the national average cost index of 100. That doesn't close the $13,750 wage gap entirely, but it meaningfully reduces the economic penalty of working in SC versus higher-wage states. For nurses with families, SC's relatively affordable suburban housing in Greenville and Columbia is a real lifestyle differentiator compared to metropolitan markets in NC, VA, or FL.