BLS - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

07/08/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/08/2026 11:11

Occupational Employment and Wages in Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC — May 2025

News Release Information

26-1065-ATL
Wednesday, July 08, 2026

Workers in the Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.49 in May 2025, compared to the nationwide average of $33.54, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($63.76), legal ($48.41), and computer and mathematical ($48.23). Lower paying occupational groups included food preparation and serving related ($14.86), personal care and service ($16.81), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.07), and healthcare support ($17.90). (See table A.)

Office and administrative support occupations accounted for 12.0 percent of Greenville area employment, followed by sales and related occupations (9.9 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); legal (0.7 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.0 percent).

Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Greenville United States Greenville

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 33.54 28.49

Management

7.2 5.4 69.84 63.76

Business and financial operations

6.8 5.4 45.78 41.48

Computer and mathematical

3.4 2.1 57.73 48.23

Architecture and engineering

1.7 2.6 51.36 46.40

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.6 45.48 39.52

Community and social service

1.7 1.3 30.49 26.71

Legal

0.8 0.7 67.07 48.41

Educational instruction and library

5.9 5.6 32.47 27.71

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.3 1.0 38.36 32.70

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.3 6.4 52.26 47.93

Healthcare support

5.1 4.2 19.62 17.90

Protective service

2.4 2.0 29.19 22.22

Food preparation and serving related

8.8 9.6 17.86 14.86

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.9 19.66 17.07

Personal care and service

2.1 2.0 19.74 16.81

Sales and related

8.6 9.9 26.43 23.97

Office and administrative support

11.4 12.0 24.79 22.41

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1 19.96 19.95

Construction and extraction

4.1 3.6 31.42 26.82

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.3 30.44 28.22

Production

5.5 9.4 24.81 23.48

Transportation and material moving

8.8 8.8 23.96 20.19

One occupational group-production-was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Greenville had 40,960 jobs in production, accounting for 9.4 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.48, compared to the national wage of $24.81.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (9,860) and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (3,480). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were power plant operators ($41.29) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($37.30). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($15.20) and bakers ($16.15). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0024860/2025.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.00 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Greenville area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, engine and other machine assemblers were employed at 10.69 times the national rate in Greenville, and chemical equipment operators and tenders, at 3.19 times the U.S. average. Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders had a location quotient of 1.19 in Greenville, indicating that this particular occupation's local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.

Federal Government Shutdown

Because of the lapse in federal appropriations from October 1 through November 12, 2025, additional collection and processing time were required for the May 2025 OEWS survey panel once appropriations resumed. The response rate for the May 2025 survey panel was within the normal range and no additional modifications to the OEWS methodology and procedures were necessary as a result of the shutdown.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 530 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology is available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 66.2 percent based on establishments and 67.2 percent based on weighted sampled employment. Sample sizes and response rates by metropolitan and nonmetropolitan area are available on the Additional OEWS data sets page.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Anderson County, Greenville County, Laurens County, and Pickens County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

Occupation Employment Mean wages ($)
Level Location quotient Hourly Annual

Production occupations

40,960 1.71 23.48 48,830

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

2,810 1.49 37.30 77,590

Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers

1,310 1.90 21.99 45,730

Engine and other machine assemblers

1,020 10.69 23.88 49,680

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

230 1.57 25.04 52,070

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

9,860 2.51 20.23 42,070

Bakers

690 1.05 16.15 33,600

Butchers and meat cutters

380 1.00 19.46 40,480

Food batchmakers

180 0.37 21.65 45,030

Food processing workers, all other

100 0.53 18.18 37,800

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

490 2.86 21.78 45,300

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1,130 2.35 24.24 50,420

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

170 0.93 23.09 48,030

Machinists

1,050 1.31 27.02 56,210

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders

60 1.35 20.01 41,610

Foundry mold and coremakers

40 1.00 21.46 44,640

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

820 1.96 21.42 44,550

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1,990 5.72 25.27 52,550

Tool and die makers

200 1.26 31.36 65,220

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

1,760 1.51 24.79 51,570

Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders

130 1.44 22.27 46,320

Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

40 0.98 24.63 51,240

Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

100 1.15 21.67 45,080

Prepress technicians and workers

40 0.66 22.72 47,250

Printing press operators

490 1.22 21.47 44,660

Print binding and finishing workers

140 1.50 20.92 43,520

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

490 0.89 15.20 31,610

Sewing machine operators

400 1.36 18.89 39,290

Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers

60 1.46 19.25 40,040

Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders

250 16.88 21.07 43,820

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

230 9.25 22.59 46,980

Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders

530 14.48 20.33 42,280

Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders

430 6.94 19.04 39,600

Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers

170 4.66 22.25 46,270

Upholsterers

30 0.62 20.65 42,950

Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other

90 2.40 19.59 40,760

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

180 0.85 22.04 45,840

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

80 0.71 19.15 39,840

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

190 1.13 20.77 43,200

Power plant operators

60 0.68 41.29 85,870

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

390 1.08 28.73 59,760

Chemical plant and system operators

100 2.06 28.92 60,140

Gas plant operators

60 1.10 30.46 63,350

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

1,250 3.19 27.55 57,300

Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders

60 0.33 22.86 47,560

Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders

80 1.04 22.45 46,690

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

30 1.10 18.16 37,780

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

600 2.26 22.47 46,740

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

130 1.04 25.05 52,110

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders

730 4.41 23.38 48,640

Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders

40 1.08 21.30 44,310

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

3,480 2.09 23.95 49,820

Medical appliance technicians

40 1.14 22.74 47,300

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

1,260 1.19 20.08 41,760

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

540 1.21 23.22 48,310

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

640 1.35 25.23 52,480

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

100 1.28 35.35 73,530

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders

100 2.48 20.32 42,260

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

110 1.23 25.55 53,150

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

450 1.66 24.54 51,030

Helpers--production workers

480 1.03 19.17 39,860

Production workers, all other

450 0.64 21.61 44,950
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