What Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earn in Lexington County, SC
The median pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lexington County, SC is $37,530 per year, which works out to $18.04 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Columbia, SC metropolitan area, the labor market that Lexington County, SC belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $39,740, which is 5.9% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 9,410 people working in this occupation across the Columbia, SC metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Lexington County, SC has roughly 304,887 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in the Columbia, SC metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $29,800 a year ($14.33 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $47,440 or more ($22.81 an hour). That is a gap of $17,640 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $34,820 at the 25th percentile and $45,970 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lexington County, SC is $18.04. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $37,530, and the same salary is $3,128 a month before taxes or about $1,443 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $15.18 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand this way: "Manually move freight, stock, luggage, or other materials, or perform other general labor. Includes all manual laborers not elsewhere classified."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Read work orders or receive oral instructions to determine work assignments or material or equipment needs"; "Move freight, stock, or other materials to and from storage or production areas, loading docks, delivery vehicles, ships, or containers, by hand or using trucks, tractors, or other equipment"; "Maintain equipment storage areas to ensure that inventory is protected".
Job outlook for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 2,940,300 jobs in 2025 to 2,991,900 in 2035, a change of +1.8%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 340,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 11.6% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $40,240 for this occupation; the Lexington County, SC median of $37,530 is 6.7% below it.
How pay in Lexington County, SC compares
Compared with the South Carolina average
The local median of $37,530 sits below the South Carolina employment-weighted average of $38,166. The shortfall is $636 a year, or 1.7%, so Lexington County, SC is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within South Carolina, the highest median we track for this job is $38,850 in York County, SC.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $41,056 across the contiguous United States. At $37,530, Lexington County, SC pays $3,526 less, which is 8.6% 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 Lexington County, SC
Among the 465 occupations with published wages in Lexington County, SC, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand ranks number 381 by median pay, ahead of about 18% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $81,920 a year, which is $44,390 more than the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $37,530 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $5,966 a year, which leaves $31,564, or $2,630 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $21,780. 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 $2,375, an effective 6.3% 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 $2,327 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $544. FICA totals $2,871, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in South Carolina
South Carolina income tax on this salary is $720 a year, or 1.9% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 30% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $60 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 Lexington County, SC
IRS Statistics of Income data for Lexington County, SC show an average adjusted gross income of $79,270 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.1% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.0%, compared with the 6.3% 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 Lexington County, SC
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Lexington County, SC: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $31,564 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Lexington County, SC is $1,126 a month, or $13,512 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,226 a month. For Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand, a one-bedroom absorbs 42.8% of take-home pay and 36.0% 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 9.2% of gross pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lexington 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
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $20,504 a year, 65% of take-home pay. That leaves $11,061 a year, or $922 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 29.5% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Lexington County, SC
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Lexington 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 Lexington County, SC, set beside the South Carolina and national medians.
Property taxes in Lexington County, SC
Homeowners in Lexington County, SC pay a median of $1,151 a year in real estate taxes, 8% below the South Carolina median of $1,251 and 63% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $234,500, the median tax bill is 0.49% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand median of $37,530, a tax bill of that size would equal 3.1% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Lexington County, SC
Renters in Lexington County, SC pay a median gross rent of $1,178 a month in the Census survey, in line with 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 $234,500, 9% below the South Carolina median of $259,000. Median household income is $77,408, 12% above the South Carolina median of $69,324, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 17.5% of that income.
Commuting in Lexington County, SC
Workers in Lexington County, SC who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.0 minutes each way, 2% above the South Carolina average of 25.6. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.3 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 11.9% of workers in Lexington County, SC work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand afford to live in Lexington 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 $37,530 that ceiling is $938 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,126 is $188 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 Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $18.04, which is 17% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $15.18 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 17.1 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 $17,217.
How fast you can save
At $922 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 Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand pay in Lexington County, SC
What is the hourly wage for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lexington County, SC?
The median is $18.04 per hour, based on $37,530 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $14.33 at the 10th percentile to $22.81 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lexington County, SC?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $37,530 becomes $31,564 a year. That is $2,630 a month, $1,214 every two weeks or $607 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lexington County, SC?
Total taxes are $5,966 a year, an effective rate of 15.9%: $2,375 federal income tax, $2,871 FICA and $720 South Carolina income tax.
Is pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lexington County, SC above the South Carolina average?
No. The local median of $37,530 is -1.7% versus the South Carolina average of $38,166, a difference of $636 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand salary in Lexington County, SC?
A one-bedroom costs $1,126 a month against take-home pay of $2,630, which is 42.8% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $938 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lexington County, SC?
About $922 a month ($11,061 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 Lexington 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 Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $18.04.
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.