Used plastic pallets in South Carolina

What the jobs data shows for South Carolina

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts private employers in South Carolina at 27,150 warehousing and storage jobs across 527 establishments in 2025, about 51.5 jobs per establishment.

• Lexington County: 5,481 warehousing jobs, 20% of South Carolina and 0.29% of the country, 1.8 times York County.
• York County: 3,009 warehousing jobs, 11% of South Carolina and 0.16% of the country, 55% of the size of Lexington County.
• Greenville County: 2,870 warehousing jobs, 11% of South Carolina and 0.15% of the country, 52% of the size of Lexington County.

South Carolina against the country

South Carolina's figures sit on the left and the national totals beside them, so each share and rank shows how much of the country's pallet work lands here.

What the ratios say

Disclosure rules in the BLS data hide small counties, so the county totals for South Carolina are a floor and not the whole of its 27,150 jobs.

• The three largest warehousing counties hold 42% of South Carolina's jobs in the line.
• The average warehouse in South Carolina employs 51.5 people where the national average is 81.5, a gap of 37 percent below it.
• Food manufacturing employs 0.66 people for every warehousing job in South Carolina; across the US the ratio is 0.93.
• South Carolina holds 1.0% of the nation's food manufacturing jobs and 1.4% of its warehousing jobs, so food is the lighter of the two lines here.
• Pharmaceutical manufacturing adds 6,517 jobs, 1.9% of the US total.
• Motor vehicle assembly accounts for 15,531 jobs in South Carolina, 5.4% of the US total, with another 21,585 in parts.
• The 2 metros below account for 29% of the state's warehousing jobs, counting disclosed counties only.
• Lexington County's 5,481 warehousing jobs are more than the whole state total of 12 other states, the largest being Rhode Island at 5,152.
• Missouri runs warehouses of nearly the same size, at 51.1 jobs per establishment against 51.5 here.
• For food manufacturing, Louisiana is the closest match at 16,970 jobs, 819 below South Carolina's 17,789.
• The smallest county the BLS shows for South Carolina is Greenville County with 2,870 jobs; the largest has 1.9 times as many.
• If warehousing jobs were split evenly across 50 states, each would hold 2.0% of the total; South Carolina holds 1.43%, which is 0.71 times an even share.
• Maryland sits above South Carolina with 2,816 more warehousing jobs, and Missouri sits below with 424 fewer.

Where South Carolina ranks

South Carolina and the 20 states above it hold 82% of the country's 1,901,976 warehousing jobs between them. The median state has 23,211, so South Carolina is 3,940 jobs above it; California, the largest, has 236,923, or 9 times as many.

The pallet-using lines in South Carolina

By location quotient South Carolina leans hardest on motor vehicle manufacturing (3.7x the national share). Automotive plants reuse pallets in a loop and load them heavily, so ask for static and dynamic ratings and for one maker.

• Motor vehicle manufacturing: 15,531 jobs in South Carolina, 5.4% of the 288,633 across the US, or 0.57 for every warehousing job in the state.
• Motor vehicle parts manufacturing: 21,585 jobs in South Carolina, 4.1% of the 521,212 across the US, or 0.80 for every warehousing job in the state.
• Chemical manufacturing: 22,678 jobs in South Carolina, 2.5% of the 892,426 across the US, or 0.84 for every warehousing job in the state.
• Plastics product manufacturing: 13,499 jobs in South Carolina, 2.3% of the 575,006 across the US, or 0.50 for every warehousing job in the state.
• Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing: 6,517 jobs in South Carolina, 1.9% of the 350,886 across the US, or 0.24 for every warehousing job in the state.

The ladder around South Carolina

States are ranked by warehousing and storage jobs. South Carolina is 21st of 50; the table shows the two states above it and the two below.

Metros we list in South Carolina

2 metros in South Carolina have a page with ZIPs, counties and corridors.

Labelling stacks

• Put a card on each stack with footprint, grade and the date it was sorted.
• Use one colour of tape for repaired pallets and another for held ones.
• Keep labels at fork-truck eye level, not on the lowest pallet.
• Update the card when a pallet is removed, so the count stays true.
• Retire old cards instead of writing over them.

Asking for a lot in South Carolina

USDA published no refrigerated warehouse figure for South Carolina in its October 2025 count, so this page makes no cold-storage claim.

• Ask for a uniform closed-loop lot in 48 x 45 in to match heavy-duty bulk containers
• Write the South Carolina ZIP where the lot will land
• Say how many pallet-loads, or whether you need a truck

Other states

• California
• Colorado
• Georgia
• Kentucky
• Maryland
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• Rhode Island
• Vermont
• Wisconsin

Keep reading