Salaries in Charleston.
422 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.98x national average. Last updated April 2026.
422 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$301,000
Chief AI Officer
Median of All Roles
$146,000
AI Retail/Commerce Specialist
Entry Level
$31,000
Hotel Clerk / Front Desk
Salary data sourced from SEC filings, H-1B Labor Condition Applications (DOL), Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and aggregated job postings across 50+ platforms. Ranges reflect 25th to 75th percentile for full-time positions. Cost-of-living adjustments use Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (2025 index). Last updated April 2026.
Charleston, SC has a cost-of-living index of 0.98x the national average. The highest-paying role is Chief AI Officer at $301,000, while the median across all 422 roles is $146,000. Charleston is one of the South's fastest growing tech hubs, with Boeing, Volvo, and a wave of software companies establishing operations.
About the Charleston market
Charleston is one of the South's fastest growing tech hubs, with Boeing, Volvo, and a wave of software companies establishing operations. The city's port drives significant logistics employment. Charleston's quality of life, moderate costs, and growing tech scene attract relocating professionals from across the country.
Aerospace & ManufacturingTechnologyPort & LogisticsTourismHealthcare
Top 50 salaries in Charleston
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Chief AI Officer | $301,000 | $223,000 – $388,000 |
| 2 | Chief Technology Officer | $284,000 | $211,000 – $372,000 |
| 3 | Chief Revenue Officer | $283,000 | $212,000 – $373,000 |
| 4 | SVP of AI Innovation | $282,000 | $213,000 – $371,000 |
| 5 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $280,000 | $209,000 – $366,000 |
| 6 | Head of AI | $275,000 | $204,000 – $357,000 |
| 7 | CEO | $270,000 | $196,000 – $372,000 |
| 8 | VP of AI Engineering | $267,000 | $202,000 – $348,000 |
| 9 | CFO | $265,000 | $199,000 – $352,000 |
| 10 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $263,000 | $198,000 – $343,000 |
| 11 | VP of Engineering | $262,000 | $197,000 – $343,000 |
| 12 | Head of AI Research | $262,000 | $194,000 – $344,000 |
| 13 | Chief Product Officer | $257,000 | $190,000 – $337,000 |
| 14 | Chief Marketing Officer | $257,000 | $193,000 – $337,000 |
| 15 | Head of Applied AI | $257,000 | $192,000 – $338,000 |
| 16 | VP of AI Product | $252,000 | $188,000 – $327,000 |
| 17 | Chief Data Officer | $247,000 | $185,000 – $323,000 |
| 18 | VP of Sales | $242,000 | $182,000 – $323,000 |
| 19 | Head of AI Platform | $241,000 | $179,000 – $315,000 |
| 20 | Chief Operating Officer | $240,000 | $179,000 – $320,000 |
| 21 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $238,000 | $179,000 – $309,000 |
| 22 | VP of Product | $235,000 | $178,000 – $303,000 |
| 23 | VP of Marketing | $233,000 | $173,000 – $307,000 |
| 24 | VP of Product Design | $230,000 | $172,000 – $299,000 |
| 25 | Head of AI Partnerships | $230,000 | $172,000 – $304,000 |
| 26 | AI Transformation Officer | $228,000 | $171,000 – $299,000 |
| 27 | Director of Generative AI | $227,000 | $172,000 – $299,000 |
| 28 | Director of AI Strategy | $222,000 | $168,000 – $290,000 |
| 29 | Foundation Model Engineer | $219,000 | $163,000 – $285,000 |
| 30 | AI Program Director | $216,000 | $163,000 – $283,000 |
| 31 | Director of Data Science | $213,000 | $163,000 – $277,000 |
| 32 | AI Financial Engineer | $212,000 | $156,000 – $273,000 |
| 33 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $208,000 | $153,000 – $275,000 |
| 34 | Director of Engineering | $207,000 | $160,000 – $268,000 |
| 35 | Multimodal AI Researcher | $206,000 | $153,000 – $273,000 |
| 36 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $206,000 | $153,000 – $269,000 |
| 37 | AI Cloud Architect | $205,000 | $155,000 – $260,000 |
| 38 | Reinforcement Learning Engineer | $204,000 | $153,000 – $265,000 |
| 39 | Director of Product | $204,000 | $158,000 – $265,000 |
| 40 | AI Agent Architect | $203,000 | $153,000 – $262,000 |
| 41 | AI Research Scientist | $202,000 | $151,000 – $262,000 |
| 42 | Deep Learning Engineer | $202,000 | $156,000 – $257,000 |
| 43 | Reinforcement Learning Researcher | $200,000 | $149,000 – $264,000 |
| 44 | Multimodal AI Engineer | $198,000 | $148,000 – $257,000 |
| 45 | Agentic Orchestrator | $198,000 | $148,000 – $257,000 |
| 46 | AI Reasoning Specialist | $198,000 | $146,000 – $262,000 |
| 47 | Autonomous Vehicle AI Engineer | $197,000 | $146,000 – $260,000 |
| 48 | Neuro AI Engineer | $197,000 | $146,000 – $260,000 |
| 49 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $196,000 | $146,000 – $259,000 |
| 50 | LLM Engineer | $194,000 | $148,000 – $255,000 |
Tax considerations
South Carolina's top income tax rate is 6.4%. Charleston has no city income tax. The state rate is moderate, and the affordable cost of living keeps net pay competitive.
Negotiating in Charleston
Highlight the Boeing and Volvo ecosystem when negotiating. Manufacturing and engineering employers in Charleston benchmark against national aerospace pay scales.
Know the number. Get the offer.
Orbyt gives you the salary data, interview prep, and pipeline tools to negotiate from a position of strength.
Start free