This is the highest-paying job in SC that doesn't require a degree. Here's how much it earns

Going to college has become the standard path to earn a rewarding and high-paying job for millions of people, but it’s not the path for everyone.

In fact, Americans are increasingly losing faith in higher education. In a 2025 NBC News poll, almost two-thirds of registered voters believe that a four-year degree isn’t worth the cost. This is a significant shift from a dozen years ago, when the majority of Americans believed the opposite.

Those with advanced degrees may have lower unemployment rates and higher pay, but the price of public and private higher education has dramatically jumped since the 90s, making it harder to justify the time it takes to acquire such degrees.

High-paying jobs that don’t require a degree are sounding more worthwhile, as a result. To determine the jobs in each state that pay the best for people who never went to college, NetCredit, an online lender, analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data and created a study with the results.

Their team identified occupations that don’t require an associate degree, according to the BLS Occupational Handbook. Then, they retrieved the average yearly salary for these occupations in each state from the BLS 2024 Occupational and Wage Estimates.

Here’s the job in South Carolina that pays the most money to degreeless workers:

Top paying job in SC that doesn’t require a degree

In SC, workers with a bachelor’s degree earn an average wage of $63,731, according to a 2024 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Those with at least a high school diploma earn $38,043 per year on average.

The highest-paying job that doesn’t require a degree exceeds that number by quite a lot. Transportation, storage and distribution managers rank as the best-paid job in SC, with an average annual salary of $117,499.

Top 10 paying jobs in the US that don’t require a degree

These jobs are attainable with just a high school diploma and offer the highest average salary in any state for a job with no degree requirements:

1. Nuclear power reactor operators: $122,824 national average wage
2. Transportation, storage and distribution managers: $116,002 national average wage
3. Police sergeants and captains: $110,989 national average wage
4. Power operators and dispatchers: $109,616 national average wage
5. Ship engineers: $105,602 national average wage
6. Elevator/escalator installers and repairers: $104,874 national average wage
7. Gambling managers: $102,482 national average wage
8. Detectives and criminal Investigators: $98,758 national average wage
9. Customer service and sales supervisors: $97,885 national average wage
10. Boat captains, pilots and mates: $97,656 national average wage

Tips on how to find a good job without a degree

Regardless of whether you have a degree or not, it can be difficult to find a good-paying job in any circumstance. NetCredit provides these four tips on how to find a rewarding job if going to college wasn’t the right choice for you:

• Optimize your resume. Make it neat and structured, and lay out your experience so it’s easy to evaluate. Give evidence of your skills using short examples to back up each claim.
• Don’t rule out “degree preferred” jobs. If you can prove your experience and your will to learn, you may be a better match for such a role - especially if you indicate your enthusiasm to undertake professional development.
• Use your network. Employers want employees they can trust. Look for employers you know personally or ask professionals you know for an introduction or recommendation to potential employers. Use meetups and alumni groups to make a personal impact on people who might help you get a break now or in the future.
• Structure your resume for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). Optimize your resume by using keywords and phrases from the job description, spelling out words in full, and adapting your resume for each specific role for which you apply.