Salaries in North Charleston.
522 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.94x national average. Last updated April 2026.
522 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$301,000
Distinguished Engineer
Median of All Roles
$138,000
AI Quality Assurance Engineer
Entry Level
$30,000
Home Health Aide
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.
North Charleston, SC has a cost-of-living index of 0.94x the national average. The highest-paying role is Distinguished Engineer at $301,000, while the median across all 522 roles is $138,000. North Charleston is the industrial and manufacturing heart of the Lowcountry, home to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner assembly facility and the Charleston Naval Complex.
About the North Charleston market
North Charleston is the industrial and manufacturing heart of the Lowcountry, home to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner assembly facility and the Charleston Naval Complex. The area has attracted significant defense, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing investment. Growth in logistics driven by the expanding port continues to drive employment.
Aerospace & ManufacturingDefensePort & LogisticsAutomotiveTechnology
Top 50 salaries in North Charleston
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Distinguished Engineer | $301,000 | $228,000 – $383,000 |
| 2 | Chief AI Officer | $280,000 | $208,000 – $361,000 |
| 3 | VP of AI | $273,000 | $207,000 – $357,000 |
| 4 | Chief Technology Officer | $270,000 | $200,000 – $354,000 |
| 5 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $266,000 | $199,000 – $347,000 |
| 6 | Chief Revenue Officer | $263,000 | $197,000 – $348,000 |
| 7 | Head of AI Research | $261,000 | $194,000 – $344,000 |
| 8 | SVP of AI Innovation | $260,000 | $196,000 – $342,000 |
| 9 | Head of AI | $259,000 | $192,000 – $336,000 |
| 10 | CEO | $258,000 | $188,000 – $357,000 |
| 11 | Chief Product Officer | $254,000 | $188,000 – $334,000 |
| 12 | Chief Data Officer | $254,000 | $191,000 – $332,000 |
| 13 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $253,000 | $190,000 – $329,000 |
| 14 | VP of AI Engineering | $252,000 | $190,000 – $328,000 |
| 15 | VP of AI Product | $247,000 | $184,000 – $320,000 |
| 16 | Head of Applied AI | $247,000 | $184,000 – $324,000 |
| 17 | Principal Engineer | $247,000 | $190,000 – $323,000 |
| 18 | Chief Operating Officer | $242,000 | $180,000 – $323,000 |
| 19 | Chief Marketing Officer | $242,000 | $181,000 – $316,000 |
| 20 | VP of Engineering | $242,000 | $181,000 – $316,000 |
| 21 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $240,000 | $181,000 – $311,000 |
| 22 | CFO | $235,000 | $176,000 – $311,000 |
| 23 | VP of Product | $235,000 | $177,000 – $302,000 |
| 24 | AI Transformation Officer | $235,000 | $176,000 – $308,000 |
| 25 | Head of AI Partnerships | $230,000 | $171,000 – $303,000 |
| 26 | Head of AI Platform | $228,000 | $170,000 – $299,000 |
| 27 | VP of Sales | $226,000 | $169,000 – $301,000 |
| 28 | VP of Marketing | $223,000 | $166,000 – $294,000 |
| 29 | VP of Product Design | $216,000 | $161,000 – $281,000 |
| 30 | Director of AI Strategy | $213,000 | $161,000 – $279,000 |
| 31 | Director of Generative AI | $212,000 | $160,000 – $278,000 |
| 32 | CTO, AI Startup | $212,000 | $166,000 – $276,000 |
| 33 | AI Program Director | $205,000 | $155,000 – $269,000 |
| 34 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $205,000 | $152,000 – $272,000 |
| 35 | Director of Data Science | $204,000 | $157,000 – $266,000 |
| 36 | Director of Engineering | $201,000 | $155,000 – $260,000 |
| 37 | Staff Engineer | $201,000 | $160,000 – $255,000 |
| 38 | AI Cloud Architect | $198,000 | $150,000 – $252,000 |
| 39 | AI Alignment Researcher | $198,000 | $147,000 – $263,000 |
| 40 | AI Systems Architect | $198,000 | $150,000 – $259,000 |
| 41 | AI Financial Engineer | $197,000 | $146,000 – $254,000 |
| 42 | AI World Model Engineer | $197,000 | $146,000 – $259,000 |
| 43 | Multimodal AI Engineer | $194,000 | $145,000 – $252,000 |
| 44 | Foundation Model Engineer | $194,000 | $144,000 – $253,000 |
| 45 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $194,000 | $144,000 – $253,000 |
| 46 | AI Reasoning Specialist | $194,000 | $143,000 – $257,000 |
| 47 | Engineering Manager, AI | $194,000 | $155,000 – $242,000 |
| 48 | Agentic Orchestrator | $192,000 | $144,000 – $249,000 |
| 49 | Reinforcement Learning Engineer | $192,000 | $144,000 – $249,000 |
| 50 | Quantum ML Researcher | $192,000 | $142,000 – $254,000 |
Tax considerations
South Carolina's top income tax rate is 6.4%. North Charleston has no city income tax. The moderate state rate is offset by affordable housing and strong employer demand.
Negotiating in North Charleston
Highlight aerospace manufacturing experience. Boeing and defense contractors in North Charleston pay nationally competitive rates for specialized engineering skills.
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