Physical Therapist Salary in South Carolina 2026,
$101,330 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $101,330 a year, or $48.72 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $81,850 and $111,860 and a full range of $72,810 to $123,480. That is 1.4% below the $102,760 national median — one of the smallest state gaps in this batch, and small enough that living costs decide the comparison rather than the wage.

Spartanburg at $111,860, followed by Florence at $108,160. Both sit above Myrtle Beach at $102,480, Charleston-North Charleston at $101,550 and Greenville-Anderson-Greer at $101,020. The inland and Upstate markets outpaying the coast is an inversion of the usual South Carolina pattern and reflects thinner therapist supply away from the desirable coastal metros.

Yes. South Carolina participates in the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact, so a therapist with a compact-eligible licence in another member state can obtain a compact privilege to practise here without applying for a full second South Carolina licence. It is used heavily to cover seasonal demand along the Grand Strand and vacancies in the rural Pee Dee. Your primary licence, if South Carolina is your home state, still comes from the Board of Physical Therapy Examiners.

Supply, mostly. Spartanburg is an Upstate manufacturing market with a substantial industrial and occupational health caseload and a therapist pool that is thinner than Charleston's or Greenville's, because new graduates and relocating therapists gravitate to the coast and the larger Upstate city. When a market has steady demand and fewer applicants, the wage rises — and $111,860 in Spartanburg is exactly the state's 75th percentile, meaning a typical Spartanburg therapist earns what the upper quartile earns statewide.

The $123,480 ninetieth percentile, and it is reached through setting more than title. Home health and contract post-acute work pays on productivity and routinely runs above employed outpatient rates, particularly in the retiree-heavy Lowcountry and Grand Strand markets. ABPTS board certification in orthopaedics, neurology or geriatrics is the credential that matters for employed practice, and clinic or regional management is the other route. Ownership of an outpatient practice is outside what a wage series measures.

Because the supply and demand sides are both close to normal. A location quotient of 0.99 says the state employs physical therapists at almost exactly the national rate per worker — it is neither an oversupplied market that suppresses wages nor a starved one that inflates them. What South Carolina adds on top is demand growth from one of the fastest-growing retiree populations in the country. The practical consequence is that a therapist here earns essentially the national wage while paying below-national housing costs outside Charleston and Hilton Head, which is a stronger real position than the $1,430 gap suggests.

Setting is invisible in it. Outpatient orthopaedic, inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing, home health and school-based practice all sit inside this one number, and they differ by more than the state differs from the national median. Home health and contract post-acute work pay on productivity and account for much of the distance to the $123,480 ninetieth percentile; school-based and some hospital posts sit lower with better hours. The figure also excludes productivity bonuses and the sign-on incentives used to fill rural Pee Dee and seasonal coastal vacancies.

Setting first, geography second and — unusually — geography points inland. Home health and contract work pay above employed outpatient rates. Spartanburg at $111,860 and Florence at $108,160 pay above Charleston at $101,550, so a therapist optimising for income should look away from the coast, not toward it. Then ABPTS specialty certification, and clinic or regional leadership. The compact privilege is worth understanding if you want to take assignments across state lines without a second full licence.