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Columbia, South Carolina has 5 accredited schools offering early childhood education programs. Columbia has a population of about 138,019. Median household income is $55,653 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 46.1% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Columbia, SC metro area, the top-earning early childhood education-related role is Kindergarten Teacher at a median $60,880 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer early childhood education programs near Columbia, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Columbia city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Columbia. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all South Carolina schools on the South Carolina early childhood education page.
Columbia is part of the Columbia, SC metro area (BLS area code 17900). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to South Carolina statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preschool Teacher | $31,510 | Columbia, SC | $33,629 |
| Kindergarten Teacher | $60,880 | Columbia, SC | $64,973 |
| Preschool and Childcare Center Director | $46,510 | Columbia, SC | $49,637 |
| Teaching Assistant | $27,860 | Columbia, SC | $29,733 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 138,019 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $55,653 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 46.1% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 93.7 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 5 accredited schools offering early childhood education programs near Columbia. The closest is Benedict College in Columbia, SC (6.9 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is South Carolina State University (37.3 miles). 4 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying early childhood education-related roles near Columbia are: Kindergarten Teacher ($60,880), Preschool and Childcare Center Director ($46,510), Preschool Teacher ($31,510). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with South Carolina statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Lexington, SC is 18.4 miles from Columbia and has its own set of local early childhood education programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Columbia’s median household income of $55,653 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Columbia while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and South Carolina public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Columbia:
Data verified: July 30, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Best Online Early Childhood Education Programs in South Carolina (2026)
