Here are the 25 commonly highest-paying jobs in Columbia for 2026. See if your job matches up
If your current job isn’t meeting your pay standards, it might be time to look for an upgrade.
There are opportunities for advancement in Columbia, with jobs paying as high as $140,000, according to ZipRecruiter, an online job marketplace.
The average salary in Columbia is $64,722 a year, or $31 an hour, while the average salary for South Carolina is $48,827, or $23 an hour.
Across the U.S., the best-paying positions are in anesthesia, psychiatry and orthodontics, which have median annual salaries of over $200,000.
Here are the top positions ZipRecruiter found in Columbia in 2026:
25 highest-paying jobs in Columbia
The most common, highest-paying positions in Columbia are tracked by ZipRecruiter. The top eight positions have upper-quadrant annual salaries over $61,556.
1. Nurse practitioner: $99,900 - $138,800
2. DevOps engineer: $97,600 - $133,700
3. Java developer: $94,400 - $122,100
4. Construction: $65,700 - $106,900
5. Nursing: $68,900 - $95,800
6. Videographer: $41,200 - $67,500
7. School social worker: $48,600 - $66,600
8. Web designer: $43,700 - $65,300
9. Graphic designer: $38,400 - $60,100
10. Auto mechanic: $40,200 - $56,900
11. Inside sales representative: $36,500 - $54,600
12. Independent courier: $30,600 - $51,400
13. Construction flagger: $33,300 - $50,000
14. Office administrator: $33,300 - $45,800
15. Phlebotomy: $33,300 - $43,900
16. Certified nursing assistant: $31,500 - $43,500
17. Construction laborer: $32,800 - $42,100
18. Data entry: $31,500 - $42,100
19. Hospital data entry: $31,500 - $42,100
20. Medical scribe: $29,100 - $39,300
21. Medical courier: $29,100 - $37,000
22. Security: $29,600 - $36,100
23. Mystery shopper: $31,100 - $35,300
24. Picker packer: $27,800 - $32,400
25. Restaurant server: $18,500 - $29,600
If none of these jobs seem like the right fit for you, you can check out more jobs on ZipRecruiter here.