Hospital mergers aren’t anything new in South Carolina, and with these unions of massive hospital systems come increased access to healthcare services for the state’s residents and greater professional opportunities for the systems’ administrators who oversee them.
This growth in the state’s healthcare system has resulted in strong job projections for healthcare administrators in the Palmetto State – a 17.1% growth rate between 2018 and 2028.
Healthcare administrators in South Carolina also earn the top salaries you’d expect of those whose job it is to manage and operate everything from major hospitals to assisted living facilities to ambulatory centers and more. In South Carolina, the median salary for healthcare administrators is $94,600, while its average is $106,360.
Examining Job Growth for South Carolina Healthcare Administrators
Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures – these terms are commonplace in the nation’s healthcare system, which has seen countless hospital systems come together to form even larger systems that are able to reach more people and provide more efficient care. The consolidation of health systems, largely the work of healthcare administrators, also results in better and more varied professional opportunities for healthcare professionals.
Such is the case in South Carolina, with the 2018 merger of Palmetto Health in Columbia and Greenville Health into what is now known as Prism created the largest healthcare system in South Carolina.
The 13 hospitals within Prism will treat 1.2 million patients annually and generate an annual net revenue of $3.9 billion. It will become the largest private employer in the state, employing more than 28,000 healthcare workers.
Examining South Carolina Healthcare Administrator Salary Differences by Location
Salary ranges for South Carolina’s healthcare administrator tend to be quite broad, with median salaries ranging from the low-$80,000s to upwards of $100,000 – more than a $20,000 difference.
The top earners are found in the non-metro Lower Savannah area, with the top 10% earning a salary of $194,890, with those in the top 10% in the Charleston-North Charleston metro area following closely behind with a median salary of $194,500. Columbia came out on top for its number of healthcare administrators (1,240), followed closely by the Charleston-North Charleston metro area (1,200).
Charleston-North Charleston
- 25th percentile: $78,010
- Median: $99,780
- 90th percentile: $194,500
Columbia
- 25th percentile: $76,280
- Median: $96,360
- 90th percentile: $146,730
Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin
- 25th percentile: $65,980
- Median: $89,540
- 90th percentile: $160,200
A more detailed breakdown of health administrator salaries in South Carolina can be seen here:
2020 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for Medical and Health Services Managers.
Job growth projections sourced from the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing & Regulation and published in the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Long Term Occupational Projections (2018-2028) database – https://projectionscentral.com/Projections/LongTerm.
Salary figures and job market projections represent state data, not school-specific information.
Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed August 2021.