The minimum wage in South Carolina is $7.25 per hour. The state has no minimum wage law of its own, so employers covered by federal law follow the federal rate set under the Fair Labor Standards Act.1U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws That rate has been in place since July 24, 2009, and applies statewide. No South Carolina city or county has set a higher local minimum.
The rate applies whether you are paid hourly, on salary, or by commission. What matters is whether your employer is covered by the FLSA and whether your job fits one of the narrow exceptions below.
Who Has to Pay You $7.25
Most South Carolina employers are covered if their annual gross sales or business volume is at least $500,000. Even smaller businesses are covered as to any employee whose work involves interstate commerce, which the U.S. Department of Labor reads broadly: handling credit card transactions, shipping across state lines, or regularly communicating with out-of-state vendors is usually enough.2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 27 – New Businesses Under the Fair Labor Standards Act In practice, workers in retail, food service, and office jobs are almost always covered.
Independent contractors are not covered. But a label does not decide the question. The DOL uses an “economic reality” test that looks at how much control the company has over your schedule and methods, whether you can profit or lose based on your own decisions, and whether your work is central to the company’s business.3Federal Register. Employee or Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act If you think you have been misclassified, you can raise it with the DOL.
Tipped Workers: $2.13 Plus Tips
If you regularly earn more than $30 a month in tips, your employer can pay a cash wage as low as $2.13 per hour and count your tips toward the $7.25 minimum. Your tips plus the $2.13 must average at least $7.25 for every hour you work in the pay period. If a slow shift leaves you short, your employer has to make up the difference.4eCFR. 29 CFR Part 531 Subpart D – Tipped Employees
Before paying the reduced cash wage, your employer must tell you about the tip credit: the $2.13 rate, the credit being claimed, and your right to keep all your tips except through a valid tip pool. If they skip this notice or break the tip pooling rules, they lose the tip credit entirely and owe you the full $7.25 for every hour worked.4eCFR. 29 CFR Part 531 Subpart D – Tipped Employees
A tip pool is allowed, but managers and supervisors cannot share in it. A manager who personally serves a table can keep tips from that service, but cannot pull from a pool funded by other employees’ tips.5U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 15B – Managers and Supervisors Under the FLSA and Tips
Side work tied to a tipped job (rolling silverware, bussing, stocking) can still be paid at the tip-credit rate. The DOL once limited this work to 20 percent of your hours, but a federal appeals court struck that rule down in 2025. The tip credit now applies as long as you are working within your tipped occupation, and only ends when you are assigned to a completely separate job.
When the Law Allows Less Than $7.25
A few workers can legally be paid below the standard rate.
Workers under 20. An employer can pay $4.25 per hour for your first 90 consecutive calendar days on the job. The clock runs on calendar days from your first day, not days actually worked. Pay must rise to $7.25 on day 91 or your 20th birthday, whichever comes first. Employers cannot fire or cut hours for an existing worker to bring in a youth at the lower rate.6U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 32 – Youth Minimum Wage – Fair Labor Standards Act
Full-time students. In retail, service, agriculture, or at a college or university, full-time students can be paid 85 percent of the minimum wage (about $6.16) if the employer holds a Section 14 certificate from the DOL. The certificate also caps the hours the student can work at the reduced rate.7eCFR. 29 CFR Part 519 – Employment of Full-Time Students at Subminimum Wages
Workers with disabilities. Under FLSA Section 14(c), employers with a special certificate can pay a rate below $7.25 to a worker whose disability directly reduces productivity for the job performed. The rate is set by comparing the worker’s output to that of a non-disabled worker doing the same tasks.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 39 – The Employment of Workers With Disabilities at Subminimum Wages A proposal to phase this program out was withdrawn in July 2025, so it remains in effect.
Overtime After 40 Hours
South Carolina has no state overtime law. Federal law requires non-exempt employees who work more than 40 hours in a single workweek to be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate for every extra hour.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 207 – Maximum Hours At the $7.25 minimum, that is $10.88 per overtime hour.
The 40-hour threshold is measured within a single seven-day workweek. Your employer cannot average two weeks together to avoid overtime, even on a biweekly pay cycle. The “regular rate” used to calculate overtime can include certain bonuses and shift differentials, not just your base hourly wage.
Some salaried employees are exempt from overtime, but exemption requires both a minimum salary of $684 per week ($35,568 a year) and job duties that fit the executive, administrative, or professional categories.10U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17A – Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer, and Outside Sales Employees Under the FLSA A 2024 DOL rule that would have raised the salary threshold was vacated by a federal court, so the 2019 figure still controls.11U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption Paying someone a salary does not, by itself, make them exempt.
Deductions That Cannot Drop You Below Minimum Wage
Even when your employer has a legitimate reason to withhold money, such as a cash drawer shortage, broken equipment, a customer walkout, or a required uniform, federal law prohibits any deduction that would push your pay below $7.25 for the workweek or cut into overtime you are owed.12U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 16 – Deductions From Wages for Uniforms and Other Facilities Under the FLSA The DOL treats these costs as expenses that primarily benefit the employer. A cashier earning minimum wage cannot be made to cover a till shortage out of their paycheck. If you earn more than minimum wage, those deductions are generally allowed as long as your pay stays at or above $7.25 per hour after the deduction.
If You Are Being Paid Less Than You Should Be
You can file a complaint without an attorney, and it is illegal for your employer to retaliate against you for doing so.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties
For federal issues (minimum wage, overtime, tip credit), contact the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division online or by phone at 1-866-487-9243.
For state issues like unpaid final wages or missing itemized pay statements under the South Carolina Payment of Wages Act,14South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 41 Chapter 10 – Payment of Wages file with the Wages and Child Labor section of the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. Complaints can be submitted online, by fax at 803-896-7680, or by mail to P.O. Box 11329, Columbia, SC 29211-1329. The wage line is 803-896-7756.15SCLLR. South Carolina Office of Wages and Child Labor
If a wage claim succeeds, the employer typically owes the back wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, and in a private lawsuit, attorney’s fees and court costs.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties The DOL can also impose a civil penalty of up to $2,515 for each repeated or willful violation.16U.S. Department of Labor. Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act
Act promptly. A standard FLSA claim must be filed within two years of the violation. If the violation was willful, the deadline is three years.17U.S. Department of Labor. Back Pay Keeping your own copies of pay stubs and a record of your hours is a practical safeguard if you ever need to prove a claim.