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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Marine Engineers And Naval Architects Salary: Mississippi vs South Carolina

Marine Engineers And Naval Architects earn a median of $99,130 in Mississippi and $119,990 in South Carolina. That is a nominal gap of $20,860 (-17.4%), with South Carolina paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$99,130
Mississippi median
$114,004 after COL
$119,990
South Carolina median
$127,991 after COL
-17.4%
Nominal gap
South Carolina leads
-10.9%
Adjusted gap
South Carolina leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, South Carolina pays $20,860 more per year than Mississippi for marine engineers and naval architects, a gap of +17.4%.

After adjusting for cost of living, South Carolina still comes out ahead, with roughly $13,987 of extra purchasing power (+10.9% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for marine engineers and naval architects in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Marine Engineers And Naval Architects

Mississippi

Median salary
$99,130
Mean salary
$100,040
Employment
90
Location quotient
1.35
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$114,004
Regional Price Parity
87.0%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Marine Engineers And Naval Architects page for Mississippi →

Marine Engineers And Naval Architects

South Carolina

Median salary
$119,990
Mean salary
$118,370
Employment
80
Location quotient
0.66
Jobs per 1,000
0.0
COL-adjusted median
$127,991
Regional Price Parity
93.7%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Marine Engineers And Naval Architects page for South Carolina →

Related pages

Keep digging into marine engineers and naval architects from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.