South Carolina’s economy has expanded every year for the past decade, with the state’s gross domestic product reaching nearly $235 billion in 2018. That represents an increase of about 43% since the depths of the Great Recession in 2009.
Sponsored School(s)
Today, there are more than 100,000 employer firms operating across the state of South Carolina, and upwards of 2.1 million people are employed in a range of industries. The trade, transportation and utilities sector is the largest, accounting for nearly 1 in 5 jobs, followed by government, which contributes 17.1% of jobs and professional and business services with 13.2%.
More than $2 million were invested in South Carolina startups during the third quarter of 2019 alone, and the state is home to four companies that are on the Fortune 1,000 list of the biggest companies in the United States.
All of this is good news for people who work in the business analytics field, or have their sights set on such work. That’s because in our increasingly data-hungry world, organizations of all kinds require the services of people who can harness data and use it to make smart business or organizational decisions.
How attractive is South Carolina for students and professionals in the business analytics space? What can people expect to earn, and what are some real-world examples of potential employers for business analytics professionals in South Carolina?
Business Analytics Salaries in South Carolina
Key to understanding the state of business analytics employment in South Carolina is understanding some of the job titles that fall under the broad umbrella. The possibilities are pretty much limitless and range from very technical, think: Quantitative Modeler, to managerial, think: Research Executive.
Here’s a look at some possible job titles in business analytics:
- Market Research Analyst
- Data Scientist
- Management Consultant
- Financial Analyst
- Budget Analyst
- Decision Engineer
- Insights Analyst
- Business Intelligence Specialist
- Research Executive
- Marketing Engagement Analyst
- Quantitative Modeler
- Operations Research Analyst
To understand things like wages and employment, we examined data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for five specific job titles that can be classified under business analytics — Budget Analyst, Financial Analyst, Management Analyst, Market Research Analyst and Operations Research Analyst. It’s important to note that while all five of these jobs have “analyst” as part of their titles, not all jobs in the field do and the higher you go up the educational ladder, the more likely you’ll have something like “manager” or “executive” in your job title.
For all five of the business analytics jobs we studied, the median annual wage in South Carolina is below the overall national median wage and in some cases, the differences are dramatic. But while South Carolina business analytics wages may lag behind the country as a whole, these professionals are very well-paid relative to the average South Carolina worker: The state’s median annual wage for all occupations is just under $34,000.
Median annual wage, South Carolina vs. U.S.
| Job Title | South Carolina | U.S. |
| Budget Analyst | $67,340 | $76,220 |
| Financial Analyst | $68,260 | $85,660 |
| Management Analyst | $68,900 | $83,610 |
| Market Research Analyst | $55,650 | $63,120 |
| Operations Research Analyst | $74,050 | $83,390 |
South Carolina generally lags behind the nation as a whole for business analytics wages, but the state is relatively representative of the Southern region outside of the area surrounding the nation’s capital, which typically has incredibly high wages. For instance, outside of the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland, South Carolina’s median wage for Operations Research Analysts is the fifth-highest in the South.
Median annual wage, Operations Research Analyst, Southern states
| District of Columbia | $109,910 |
| Virginia | $105,270 |
| Maryland | $96,550 |
| Delaware | $85,490 |
| Alabama | $84,780 |
| North Carolina | $81,130 |
| Texas | $77,970 |
| South Carolina | $74,050 |
| Mississippi | $71,500 |
| Florida | $67,260 |
| Tennessee | $66,150 |
| Kentucky | $63,890 |
| Oklahoma | $63,090 |
| Georgia | $62,680 |
| Arkansas | $55,430 |
| Louisiana | $52,720 |
| West Virginia | $52,230 |
In addition to wages that tend to keep pace with regional neighbors, the future looks to be very bright in South Carolina, and the state has the nation’s third-highest projected growth rate in Operations Research Analyst job openings through 2020.
Operations Research Analyst short-term job opening growth rate, top 10
| Arizona | 11.8% |
| Utah | 9.6% |
| South Carolina | 9.0% |
| Tennessee | 8.9% |
| North Carolina | 8.4% |
| Arkansas | 7.9% |
| Mississippi | 7.7% |
| Nevada | 7.7% |
| North Dakota | 7.7% |
| Texas | 7.7% |
Except for Market Research Analysts, for which growth data is not available, all of the business analytics jobs we analyzed will see demand increase in South Carolina over the next several years.
South Carolina job opening growth rate, short- and long-term
| Job Title | Short-term | Long-term |
| Budget Analyst | 2.90% | 9.10% |
| Financial Analyst | 4.00% | 14.90% |
| Management Analyst | 4.30% | 17.30% |
| Market Research Analyst | — | — |
| Operations Research Analyst | 9.00% | 37.60% |
Note: Short-term 2016-2020; long-term 2016-2026
Typical salaries are variable depending on the area of the state in question, but in four of the five jobs, at least one major South Carolina city offers higher wages than the state as a whole.
Median annual wage, South Carolina vs. select cities
| Job Title | South Carolina | Charleston | Columbia | Florence | Greenville |
| Budget Analyst | $67,340 | $64,280 | $69,380 | — | $72,690 |
| Financial Analyst | $68,260 | $72,860 | $63,430 | $75,650 | $75,320 |
| Management Analyst | $68,900 | $72,440 | $65,830 | $64,170 | $66,190 |
| Market Research Analyst | $55,650 | $53,140 | $55,270 | $56,490 | $55,270 |
| Operations Research Analyst | $74,050 | — | $59,950 | $42,950 | $70,510 |
South Carolina Business Analytics Degree Programs
South Carolina has a rich educational tradition, and students interested in business analytics should find many challenging programs to help them build their data science tool set whether they want a public education or prefer a private institution.
Here’s a look at some of the colleges and universities in the state that offer degrees in the field:
Business Analytics Degree Jobs in South Carolina
So far, we’ve looked at what the data has to say about the recent business analytics past in South Carolina. But what’s the state of things today? One way to understand that is to look at the diversity of actual employers who have sought to hire business analytics professionals recently in South Carolina.
SEE ALSO: Masters in Business Analytics Salary Outlook
Here are just a handful of the many examples of organizations that were hiring in late 2019:
- Southern Management Corp.
- Unum
- AccruePartners
- State of South Carolina
- Spartanburg Water & Sewer
- TM Floyd & Co.
- BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
- City of Myrtle Beach
- ESP Associates
- Costa Farms
- Blue Acorn
- Blackbaud
- AgFirst
- The MIL Corp.
- Spectrum
- Clemson University
- S. Navy
- Amerisource Bergen
- First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.
- Staples
- Greenville Health Systems
Conclusion
Regardless of the industry they’re interested in, the future should remain bright for people with advanced education and experience in business analytics. That’s because every organization in our modern world needs the assistance of people who know their way around numbers and can use them to help guide decision-making.
References
Note: Information on recent job openings was gathered from Indeed.com and Glassdoor.com in late 2019.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economy at a Glance, South Carolina. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.sc.htm
PWC/CB Insights, MoneyTree Report, Q3 2019. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/us/en/moneytree-report/assets/moneytree-report-q3-2019.pdf
U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics Query System, Custom Tables. (Undated). Accessed from https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/home
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Total Gross Domestic Product for South Carolina. (2019). Retrieved from https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SCNGSP
U.S. Census Bureau, Quick Facts, South Carolina. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/SC/PST045218