2026 South Carolina paycheck calculator
South Carolina cut its 2026 rates in March, but payroll still withholds with the older formula.
Updated for 2026Checked Oct 29, 2026 against IRS and South Carolina Department of Revenue sourcesHow we check
Your take-home pay
$1,256.41
per paycheck, paid every two weeks
- Gross pay
- $1,500.00
- Federal income tax
- $96.15
- Social Security
- $93.00
- Medicare
- $21.75
- County tax
- Choose your county
- Take-home
- $1,256.41
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Take-home pay $1,256.41
South Carolina pay rules at a glance
| State income tax | Rates rise with pay Source |
| County or local tax | None Source |
| Disability or paid leave | None Source |
| Minimum wage | $7.25 an hour Source |
| Tipped minimum cash wage | $2.13 an hour, before tips Source |
| Final paycheck if you are let go | All wages due within 48 hours of the separation, or by the next regular payday, which may not be more than 30 days later. Source |
| Final paycheck if you quit | Same rule: the statute applies to a separation "for any reason". Source |
What comes out of a South Carolina paycheck
On $1,500 every two weeks, single, a South Carolina worker keeps $1,256.41.
South Carolina's Act 110, signed March 30, 2026, replaced the 2026 income tax rates retroactively. The new rates are 1.99 percent on taxable income under $30,000 and, from $30,000 up, 5.21 percent of taxable income minus $966. Employers, however, still withhold under the formula the Department of Revenue published in November 2025, which tops out at 6 percent. The Department said it would adjust the withholding tables, but when we checked on October 29, 2026 its withholding page still linked only the older documents.
The calculator follows the formula employers actually use. That means 2026 withholding is likely to differ from your final tax, and the year-end tax may come out lower than what was withheld.
Form SC W-4 counts allowances: one for yourself, one more if you are married filing jointly, one more as head of household, one for having a single job, and one for each dependent. We assume one job. Each allowance subtracts $5,000 from annual income, which cuts withholding by $300 a year at the 6 percent rate. A dependent under 6 earns a second allowance, which the calculator does not count. South Carolina does not subtract federal tax, and the wage-bracket tables can run up to about $1 higher than the formula.
County and local taxes
The South Carolina withholding formula and Form SC W-4 cover state income tax only, with no city or county withholding anywhere in them. No official page spells it out, so this is our reading of those two documents.
If that reading is right, a South Carolina stub shows no local income line, so the result needs no local amount.
Final pay and the minimum wage
South Carolina sets no minimum wage rate of its own, which leaves the federal $7.25 an hour in force. Tipped jobs follow the federal cash wage of $2.13 an hour too. The state labor department's wage page could not be reached, so this reading rests on the state code and the absence of a state rate.
Under the state's final pay law, all wages are due within 48 hours of the separation, or by the next regular payday, which may not be more than 30 days later. The rule covers a separation for any reason, so it applies the same way whether you are fired or you quit.
Nearby states
Sources and checks
Checked on Oct 29, 2026. Source: South Carolina Department of Revenue, SC Information Letter #26-20, Individual Income Tax Reform (August 31, 2026), page 1: Act 110 of 2026, signed March 30, 2026, effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025; page 2: "$0 - $29,999: 1.99% times taxable income; $30,000 or more: (5.21% times taxable income) minus $966"; page 4: "The SCDOR will consult with the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office to adjust the income tax withholding tables to reflect the income tax changes" (dor.sc.gov/sites/dor/files/policies/IL26-20.pdf, saved as data/sources/south-carolina/IL26-20.pdf, read Oct 29, 2026). Withholding: WH-1603F, Formula for Computing South Carolina 2026 Withholding Tax (Rev. 11/4/25), still the formula linked from dor.sc.gov/withholding on Oct 29, 2026 (saved as data/sources/south-carolina/WH1603F_2026.pdf and scdor-withholding.html).
Local taxes: The SCDOR withholding formula WH-1603F (Rev. 11/4/25) and Form SC W-4 (Rev. 12/5/25) (saved under data/sources/south-carolina/, read Oct 29, 2026) cover South Carolina state income tax only, with no city or county withholding. No official South Carolina page saying "no local income tax" in those words was found (see openQuestions).
Disability and paid leave: South Carolina runs no state disability or paid-family-leave insurance program paid by an employee payroll deduction: the SCDOR withholding page and formula (saved as data/sources/south-carolina/scdor-withholding.html and WH1603F_2026.pdf, read Oct 29, 2026) cover state income tax as the only state withholding on wages, and no South Carolina law or agency page describing such a program was found.
Minimum wage: South Carolina has no state minimum wage rate of its own, so the federal Fair Labor Standards Act rate of $7.25 applies. S.C. Code Section 6-1-130(B) (scstatehouse.gov/code/t06c001.php, saved as data/sources/south-carolina/sc-code-t06c001.html, read Oct 29, 2026): "A political subdivision of this State may not establish, mandate, or otherwise require a minimum wage rate that exceeds the federal minimum wage rate set forth in Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. 206." The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation page that would state this directly could not be reached (see openQuestions). No scheduled change.
Final paycheck: S.C. Code Section 41-10-50, "Payment of wages due discharged employees" (scstatehouse.gov/code/t41c010.php, saved as data/sources/south-carolina/sc-code-t41c010.html, read Oct 29, 2026): "When an employer separates an employee from the payroll for any reason, the employer shall pay all wages due to the employee within forty-eight hours of the time of separation or the next regular payday which may not exceed thirty days."
Federal withholding: IRS Publication 15-T (2026), Worksheet 1A and its "2026 Percentage Method Tables for Automated Payroll Systems and Withholding on Periodic Payments of Pensions and Annuities," pages 10 to 12. Fetched directly from irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15t.pdf and transcribed Oct 28, 2026.
Every figure above comes from the sources listed here. How we check our numbers.
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