South Carolina · NAICS 42 · Annual, 2025

Wholesale Trade in South Carolina

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 42 in South Carolina, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Wholesale Trade (NAICS 42) employed about 84,300 people in South Carolina across roughly 10,309 establishments, with average annual pay of $96,340.

Employment in Wholesale Trade in South Carolina grew 16.2% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 51.1% above the all-industries average in South Carolina. Employment reached its 2004–2025 peak in 2025, at about 84,300. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for South Carolina are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 84,300Employment, 2025
  • 10,309Establishments
  • $96,340Avg. annual pay
  • 3.6%Share of South Carolina jobs
  • 0.94Location quotient

The 2025 figures above are a DTG estimate: Estimated · 1.00. † Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Wholesale Trade in South Carolina, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 65,500 to 84,300.025K50K75K100K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 65,500; 2005 67,000; 2006 69,900; 2007 71,200; 2008 71,000; 2009 65,300; 2010 63,900; 2011 64,600; 2012 65,800; 2013 66,500; 2014 68,200; 2015 70,900; 2016 71,800; 2017 72,300; 2018 72,000; 2019 73,100; 2020 72,500; 2021 74,600; 2022 80,000; 2023 82,600; 2024 83,600; 2025 84,300.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
202584,29210,309$96,344 0.8%est. · 1.00
202483,60710,375$92,759 1.2%pub.
202382,6369,959$88,238 3.2%pub.
202280,0399,628$84,953 7.3%pub.
202174,5949,148$79,107 2.8%pub.
202072,5479,087$74,314 0.8%pub.
201973,0938,903$71,314 1.5%pub.
201871,9958,551$68,368 0.4%est. · 1.00
201772,2558,578$66,903 0.7%pub.
201671,7538,494$64,561 1.2%pub.

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.

By subsector, 2025

3-digit NAICS · 3 shown

CodeSubsectorEmploymentShare of wholesale tradeLQSource
423Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods45,30553.8%0.89pub.
424Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods23,94328.4%0.73pub.
425Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers15,04417.8%2.27est. · 1.00

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

Where these numbers come from

Reading these figures

The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Where QCEW withheld a value, the marked figure is an estimate that DTG produced under the constraints of the published record; suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG, and a withheld value is marked rather than silently omitted. Two things DTG itself holds back, and says so where it does: an estimate that cannot be given a reliability score is not shown, and average pay is not shown where fewer than three jobs are reported. The row is marked withheld, with the reason in a note beneath the table. The mark is on every row that carries a value: the headline, the yearly history, the subsectors and the other states. An estimated value that rounds below one is shown as less than one, not as zero. Quarterly figures, county figures and projected years are in the app.

How this figure was built

Employment is the average of the three monthly counts in each quarter, averaged across the year, and establishments are averaged across the year the same way. Average annual pay is the year’s total wages divided by that average employment. Each of these is DTG’s value: QCEW’s published figure where QCEW disclosed it, and DTG’s estimate, marked, where it did not. How withheld values are estimated, and what the reliability score beside a figure means, are described on the industry data and disclosure and provenance pages.

Estimated by Data Tactical Group from BLS QCEW, with CES/SAE and projection inputs described in the methodology. Method: Disclosure, Industry.

Notes

Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.

Wholesale Trade in South Carolina, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for wholesale trade in South Carolina. A free account shows every detailed industry beneath it, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.

County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.