South Carolina / Forestry Commission / Forester I

Job-title file

Forester I

Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.

11 employees hold this title in Forestry Commission. Median total compensation for the role is $54,670, below the department median of $68,003.

Employees: 11
Total payroll: $609.6K
Role median: $54,670
Agency median: $68,003
Comparison: Below

What the records show

Role pay distribution

Pay distribution for this role

$51,094$60,670+

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

How total compensation varies among the 11 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

Forester I pay vs. South Carolina

Across all employers in South Carolina, the median wage for Foresters — about 250 people — is $86,780. Forestry Commission pays a median base salary of $60,179 for this role, 31% below that figure — about the 12th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Where Forestry Commission sits in the local pay range

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$59,310

$65,060

$86,780

$97,610

$102,670

Forestry Commission median · $60,179

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

And across the country

Nationwide, the median wage for Foresters — about 10,430 people — is $76,400. Forestry Commission’s median base salary is 21% below that national figure, about the 22nd percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$50,790

$62,710

$76,400

$91,640

$109,700

Forestry Commission median · $60,179

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 Forestry Commission is $60,179, 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 jurisdictions

Forester beyond South Carolina

This role is reported in 12 jurisdictions. In South Carolina, the median of $60,179 ranks #7 of 12. See Forester across all of South Carolina →

Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role

$169,544 · 175

$78,483 · 20

$72,866 · 53

$69,977 · 60

$61,203 · 53

$60,780 · 41

$58,700 · 37

$52,530 · 43

Median total compensation for comparable Foresterroles 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