South Carolina·Management Occupations·SOC 11-9032

Best Education Administrator, Kindergarten through Secondary programs in South Carolina, ranked by enrollment

Plan, direct, or coordinate the academic, administrative, or auxiliary activities of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary.

14 schools in South Carolina run programs that feed this job, graduating 390 people a year. The job pays a median of $102,440 in South Carolina across about 5,000 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledPrincipalSuperintendentElementary PrincipalMiddle School Principal (MS Principal)HeadmasterVice PrincipalMother SuperiorAcademic Advisor
Graduates / yr
390
in South Carolina
Median pay · South Carolina
$102,440
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
5,000
people employed
Schools
14
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
59%
across those schools
Median net price
$23,698
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in South Carolina that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

6 programs in South Carolina that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in South Carolina (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own South Carolina page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1332
85.1%
12$37,480$23,000
230
7.7%
2$37,480$23,000
314
3.6%
1$37,480$23,000
47
1.8%
2$37,480$23,000
56
1.5%
2$37,480$23,000
61
0.3%
1$37,480$23,000

Top 14 schools in South Carolina

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 14 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Clemson University
Clemson, SC Public · 1 feeder programs
91Educational Leadership and Administration, General87%38%
2Citadel Military College of South Carolina
Charleston, SC Public · 1 feeder programs
44Educational Leadership and Administration, General75%23%
3Columbia College
Columbia, SC Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
42Educational Leadership and Administration, General37%$23,98694%
4South Carolina State University
Orangeburg, SC Public · 1 feeder programs
40Educational Leadership and Administration, General37%83%
5University of South Carolina - Columbia
Columbia, SC Public · 1 feeder programs
33Educational Leadership and Administration, General79%60%
6Anderson University
Anderson, SC Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
29Educational, Instructional, and Curriculum Supervision66%$24,81255%
7Columbia International University
Columbia, SC Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
22Educational Leadership and Administration, General47%$21,36194%
8Charleston Southern University
Charleston, SC Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
19Educational Leadership and Administration, General47%$21,84896%
9Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
18Educational Leadership and Administration, General65%$18,053
10Claflin University
Orangeburg, SC Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
14Early Childhood Program Administration52%$23,69865%
11Winthrop University
Rock Hill, SC Public · 1 feeder programs
14Educational Leadership and Administration, General57%79%
12Coastal Carolina University
Conway, SC Public · 2 feeder programs
12Educational Leadership and Administration, General48%75%
13Furman University
Greenville, SC Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
10Educational Leadership and Administration, General79%$24,93243%
14Southern Wesleyan University
Central, SC Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
2Educational Leadership and Administration, General52%$19,568100%

All 14 schools in South Carolina

Every school in South Carolina with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in South Carolina that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Clemson UniversityClemsonPublic911
Citadel Military College of South CarolinaCharlestonPublic441
Columbia CollegeColumbiaPrivate not-for-profit421
South Carolina State UniversityOrangeburgPublic401
University of South Carolina - ColumbiaColumbiaPublic331
Anderson UniversityAndersonPrivate not-for-profit292
Columbia International UniversityColumbiaPrivate not-for-profit221
Charleston Southern UniversityCharlestonPrivate not-for-profit193
Bob Jones UniversityGreenvillePrivate not-for-profit181
Claflin UniversityOrangeburgPrivate not-for-profit141
Winthrop UniversityRock HillPublic141
Coastal Carolina UniversityConwayPublic122
Furman UniversityGreenvillePrivate not-for-profit103
Southern Wesleyan UniversityCentralPrivate not-for-profit21

What education administrators, kindergarten through secondary earn in South Carolina

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in South Carolina
$102,440
Mean annual
$105,080
Jobs in state
5,000
What the range looks like
10th pct$75,810Median$102,44090th pct$134,490
Versus the national median
-3.2%

U.S. median $105,870. South Carolina pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.03×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in South Carolina

Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC
$104,360median
190 jobs
Charleston-North Charleston, SC
$104,370median
700 jobs
Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC
$101,820median
850 jobs
Columbia, SC
$101,830median
960 jobs
Spartanburg, SC
$100,000median
400 jobs
Florence, SC
$100,450median
230 jobs
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC
$102,280median
200 jobs
Sumter, SC
$92,920median
90 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-1.5%
Decline
Openings per year
20,800
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-5,100
333,300 → 328,100
Typical entry education
Master's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary page.

How to become a Education Administrator, Kindergarten through Secondary

Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above
Typical entry education
Master's degree
Work experience needed
5 years or more

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Top skills

SpeakingActive ListeningLearning StrategiesReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingWriting

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in South Carolina

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 7 majors mapped to Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 13.0401Educational Leadership and Administration, General
  • 13.0404Educational, Instructional, and Curriculum Supervision
  • 13.0408Elementary and Middle School Administration/Principalship
  • 13.0409Secondary School Administration/Principalship
  • 13.0411Superintendency and Educational System Administration
  • 13.0412International School Administration/Leadership
  • 13.0414Early Childhood Program Administration

Common questions

Answers for people weighing education administrators, kindergarten through secondary programs in South Carolina.

What degree do you need to become an Education Administrator, Kindergarten through Secondary?+

Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Educational Leadership and Administration, General, which awarded 332 degrees in South Carolina in 2024-25, 85.1% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Education Administrator, Kindergarten through Secondary?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 6 programs to this occupation. The largest are Educational Administration and Supervision. Together they graduate about 390 people a year in South Carolina.

How much do education administrators, kindergarten through secondary earn in South Carolina?+

The median is $102,440 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 3.2% below the U.S. median of $105,870. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for education administrators, kindergarten through secondary growing?+

BLS projects a -1.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 20,800 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in South Carolina?+

14 institutions in South Carolina reported graduates from at least one of the 6 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do education administrators, kindergarten through secondary work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Principal, Superintendent, Elementary Principal, Middle School Principal (MS Principal) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 11-9032.

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in other statesTexasIndianaNew YorkArizonaCaliforniaPennsylvaniaFloridaVirginia

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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