Civil Engineer Salary in South Carolina (2026)

Worth knowing: Port of Charleston's 2022 Charleston Harbor Deepening Project completion (post-$558M federal + state investment, the harbor depth was increased to 52 feet — making Charleston the deepest US East Coast container port and one of the only US East Coast ports capable of handling fully-laden Post-Panamax + Ultra Large Container Vessels at any tide) drove substantial post-2022 SC port infrastructure investment and a feature most national civil engineering surveys understate for SC. The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA, operates Port of Charleston + Inland Port Greer + Inland Port Dillon + Charleston cargo terminals) reports substantial post-2022 container volume growth, supporting senior port + marine engineers at $125-200K TC. The substantial post-2009 SC manufacturing buildout (BMW Spartanburg + Boeing 787 Charleston + Volvo Charleston + Mercedes-Benz Vans + Bosch + tier-1/2 suppliers) created sustained construction PM + civil engineering demand — BMW's $1B+ Plant Woodruff battery facility (announced 2022 supporting BMW's NA EV transition through 2030) + Volvo Charleston EX90 EV production support continued facility expansion. The 1886 Charleston earthquake (magnitude ~7.0) is the strongest historical earthquake on the US East Coast and drives substantial coastal SC seismic + hurricane engineering work. SC's 6.5% top bracket catches senior PE comp at $250K+ TC. SC is RTW since 1954 with ~2.5% union density.