South Carolina energy profile

Manufacturing energy costs in South Carolina

As of Aug 2026, industrial electricity in South Carolina runs 7.88 cents per kWh. That is 18.3% cheaper than the U.S. average and places the state 9 of 51 nationally.

Current prices in South Carolina

  • Industrial electricity: 7.88 cents per kWh (Aug 2026, EIA).
  • Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in South Carolina typically pays: 11.76 cents per kWh.
  • Industrial natural gas: $6.5 per Mcf (Aug 2026), 49.8% above the national average.
  • Just below South Carolina on the price ladder: Washington at 7.43, Mississippi at 7.57, Arkansas at 7.85 cents. Just above: Montana at 7.97, Alabama at 8.11, North Dakota at 8.12 cents.

What the rate does to operating cost

  • A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about $3,152 in electricity at South Carolina rates versus $3,856 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is $15,760 versus $19,280, and at 200 kW it is $63,040 versus $77,120.
  • Energy is a genuine competitive advantage here: energy-intensive steps like heat treating, melting, and drying carry meaningfully lower unit cost in South Carolina than in most of the country, which strengthens make-versus-buy cases for keeping those operations in-house.

Cost to manufacture in South Carolina

  • South Carolina scores 94.7 on the MFG Calcs State Cost-to-Manufacture Index, where the U.S. is 100: the 14th lowest of 51 (Aug 2026).
  • Its labor factor (manufacturing wages) is 99.0 and its energy factor (industrial electricity) 81.7; the index weighs wages at 75% and electricity at 25% and leaves out taxes, land and incentives.

What factory labor pays in South Carolina

  • Industrial production managers: $61.00/hr median in South Carolina versus $60.61 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial engineers: $48.59/hr median in South Carolina versus $49.25 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Production supervisors: $37.26/hr median in South Carolina versus $35.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Tool and die makers: $31.37/hr median in South Carolina versus $30.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial machinery mechanics: $29.96/hr median in South Carolina versus $31.02 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Machinists: $27.87/hr median in South Carolina versus $28.24 nationally (OEWS 2025).

Manufacturing jobs in South Carolina

  • South Carolina had 266,000 manufacturing jobs in Sep 2026, the 18th most of 51 (BLS State and Metro Area Employment, not seasonally adjusted).
  • That is up 1.4% from Sep 2025.

Manufacturing base in South Carolina

  • South Carolina has 4,006 manufacturing establishments employing about 257,989 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
  • Average pay per manufacturing employee is $68,687, 6% below the U.S. average of $73,202.
  • Largest sectors by establishment count: fabricated metal products (753), machinery manufacturing (289), chemical manufacturing (280), printing and related support (274), machine shops (261).

Manufacturing economy in South Carolina

  • Manufacturing added $48.7B to South Carolina's economy in 2025, 12.9% of the state's GDP, the 23rd largest of the 50 states and DC (BEA).

Sources and update cadence

  • Prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, jobs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, establishments and payroll from the Census Bureau and GDP from the Bureau of Economic Analysis; each refreshes automatically when the agency publishes, and this page archives every month and year it shows so the South Carolina history keeps deepening.

Last reviewed 2026-11-13.