Summerville sits in Dorchester County, inside the Charleston-North Charleston metro area. That matters because most public wage data is published at the metro level, not the city level. The numbers below use the best available sources for “Summerville-area” pay and growth, then translate them into career options you can actually act on.1
How this list was built
Top earning careers come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for the Charleston-North Charleston metro area (detailed occupation wages).2
Top growing careers come from South Carolina DEW long-term projections (2022 to 2032) and the Trident workforce area profile. “Trident” covers Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties, which matches the Summerville commuting and hiring footprint for many jobs.36
Top earning careers near Summerville
These figures are annual mean wages (average pay) reported for the Charleston-North Charleston metro area. Real pay varies by employer, experience, specialty, and schedule.2
Highest-paying roles by annual mean wage
- Orthopedic surgeons – $385,330
- Physicians, all other – $324,560
- Family medicine physicians – $295,240
- Obstetricians and gynecologists – $292,380
- Chief executives – $250,650
- General internal medicine physicians – $233,410
- Pediatricians, general – $222,880
- Nurse anesthetists – $222,370
- Dentists, general – $175,900
- Computer and information systems managers – $167,530
A quick reality check on high pay careers
Most of the very top earners above sit behind long training runways, licensing, and competitive hiring. A practical approach is to look for strong pay inside fields with shorter pathways as well, like IT management, engineering management, or nursing tracks that build toward advanced practice over time.2
Where pay runs high across the metro area
Another useful view is pay by major career area. In May 2024, the Charleston metro area reported higher mean hourly wages in management ($61.60), computer and mathematical ($50.14), healthcare practitioners and technical ($48.41), and architecture and engineering ($48.13).1
These are broad buckets, but they help you spot “career ladders.” For example, an entry role in IT support can move toward network engineering, security, then management. The same ladder idea applies in healthcare and engineering.
Top growing careers in the Summerville area
Growth can mean two different things.
Industry growth tells you where employers will add headcount in the region. Occupation growth tells you which specific job titles show faster expansion. You want overlap between the two.
Fast-growing industries in the Trident region
From 2022 to 2032, total employment in the Trident workforce area is projected to rise by 52,543 jobs, which equals 12.7% growth.3 DEW also notes that over 50,000 of South Carolina’s projected new workers are expected in Trident, about one-fifth of the statewide increase.6
Industries projected to grow strongly in Trident
- Accommodation and food services – 19.3% projected growth
- Transportation and warehousing – 19.1% projected growth
- Health care and social assistance – 18.0% projected growth
- Finance and insurance – 20.8% projected growth
- Information – 16.6% projected growth
- Professional, scientific, and technical services – 13.8% projected growth
What this often means on the ground in Summerville: steady demand for nurses and clinical support staff, more logistics and distribution hiring, and a continued need for accounting, compliance, analytics, and IT roles across many employers.3
Fast-growing occupations to watch
South Carolina projections point to two themes that show up repeatedly: healthcare growth and tech growth.
Healthcare roles with standout growth signals
- Nurse practitioners – projected growth ranges up to 69% in the Trident workforce area (2022 to 2032), with 61% statewide growth reported for the same period.4
- Other healthcare roles called out as rapidly growing include physician assistants, physical therapist assistants, hearing aid specialists, and home health and personal care aides.4
One detail worth noticing: the DEW healthcare projections post uses 11% as the average growth rate for all occupations. So when a role lands far above that level, it usually signals long-term hiring pressure, not a short-term bump.4
Tech and analytics roles with strong projected growth
- Computer and mathematical occupations – projected to grow about 24% statewide from 2022 to 2032.5
- Data scientists – projected 48% growth statewide. One South Carolina region shows a 108% projection for the same role, which gives a sense of how fast this can accelerate in pockets of demand.5
- Information security analysts – projected 43% growth statewide.5
Even when you do not work for a “tech company,” these jobs can exist inside hospitals, manufacturers, logistics operations, banks, and government. In practice, that broad employer mix can make a career more resilient during hiring cycles.5
Summerville’s job market rewards two things at the same time: steady advancement and practical credentials. The strongest “top career” paths tend to sit in the overlap between what’s hiring nearby, what pays well in the Charleston metro area, and what gives you room to move up rather than get stuck in a narrow role. If you start with positions that have clear ladders, reliable benefits, and a footprint in the local economy, you give yourself more options later, whether that means moving into management, switching industries, or increasing your earnings without starting over.
References
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025, May 21). Occupational employment and wages in Charleston-North Charleston, SC, May 2024. https://www.bls.gov/regions/southeast/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_charleston.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (n.d.). Charleston-North Charleston, SC, May 2023 metropolitan and nonmetropolitan area occupational employment and wage estimates. https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes_16700.htm
- South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce, Labor Market Information Division. (2026, January 27). Community profiles: Trident [PDF]. South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. https://lmi.sc.gov/_docs/Community-Profiles/15000095_Trident_WDA.pdf
- South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. (2025, June 25). 2032 employment projections: Healthcare jobs dominate fastest growing occupations. https://dew.sc.gov/index.php/labor-market-information-blog/2025-06/2032-employment-projections-healthcare-jobs-dominate-fastest
- South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. (2025, August 11). 2032 employment projections: Computer and mathematical occupations grow. https://dew.sc.gov/labor-market-information-blog/2025-08/2032-employment-projections-computer-and-mathematical
- South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. (2025, March 24). Employment projections: How many people will be working in South Carolina in 2032? https://dew.sc.gov/labor-market-information-blog/2025-03/employment-projections-how-many-people-will-be-working-south
