South Carolina / Department of Social Services / Attorney III

Job-title file

Attorney III

Provide legal advice, draft and review documents, and represent the agency in legal matters.

61 employees hold this title in Department of Social Services. Median total compensation for the role is $94,860, above the department median of $55,264.

Employees: 61
Total payroll: $5.7M
Role median: $94,860
Agency median: $55,264
Comparison: Above

What the records show

Role pay distribution

Pay distribution for this role

$80,000$105,910+

Hover a bar for its range; click to filter the list below.

How total compensation varies among the 61 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.

Compared with the local labor market

Attorney III pay vs. South Carolina

Across all employers in South Carolina, the median wage for Lawyers — about 7,890 people — is $120,310. Department of Social Services pays a median base salary of $95,384 for this role, 21% below that figure — about the 34th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Where Department of Social Services sits in the local pay range

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$63,140

$80,870

$120,310

$174,620

$301,140

Department of Social Services median · $95,384

The bar is the range of annual wages for Lawyers across every employer in South Carolina, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Department of Social Services’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.

And across the country

Nationwide, the median wage for Lawyers — about 754,500 people — is $159,670. Department of Social Services’s median base salary is 40% below that national figure, about the 20th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$78,360

$102,990

$159,670

$221,370

$351,600

Department of Social Services median · $95,384

Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the South Carolina range relative to the national one.

Median total compensation for this role at Department of Social Services is $95,384, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

Compare departments

This role across South Carolina

Attorney III is held in 29 South Carolina departments. In Department of Social Services, the median of $94,860 ranks #13 of 29.

Highest-paying departments for this role

Department of Education

$115,000 · 1

Governor's Off-Sled

$113,127 · 1

Office of the State Treasurer

$110,000 · 1

Secretary of State

$107,374 · 2

Ethics Commission

$105,000 · 1

Department of Corrections

$100,000 · 2

Department of Children's Advocacy

$98,250 · 2

Department of Public Health

$96,900 · 3

Housing Authority

$95,873 · 2

Department of Revenue

$95,485 · 2

Behavioral Health & Development Disab

$95,093 · 4

Department of Consumer Affairs

$94,956 · 1

Median total compensation for the Attorney III role in other South Carolinadepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.

Compare jurisdictions

Attorney beyond South Carolina

This role is reported in 14 jurisdictions. In South Carolina, the median of $102,000 ranks #6 of 14. See Attorney across all of South Carolina →

Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role

City and County of San Francisco

$273,500 · 508

$150,234 · 3,693

$124,428 · 1,280

$108,190 · 29

$102,516 · 7

$85,943 · 269

$83,880 · 608

Louisville Metro, Kentucky

$80,774 · 7

Median total compensation for comparable Attorneyroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.

Record list