South Dakota gas tax
State fuel excise · tax year 2026 · federal tax excluded
On a 20-gallon fill
$5.60
Over 500 gallons
$140
Per gallon
28.0¢
state only
Rate rank
23
1 is the highest
What South Dakota charges at the pump
- Every time you fill a tank in South Dakota, part of what you pay is tax the state charges on fuel. On a twenty-gallon fill it comes to $5.60. You never see it on the receipt because it is baked into the price at the pump. Across a year of ordinary driving it adds up to $140, and South Dakota ranks 23 nationally on the rate behind it.
- In South Dakota diesel is taxed no more heavily than ordinary fuel. Twenty gallons carries $5.60 against $5.60. That is unusual — most of the country adds a premium to diesel — and it quietly matters to anyone running a van or a truck here.
- The headline rate is not quite the whole story in South Dakota. There are separate charges on fuel too — inspection fees, environmental levies, that sort of thing — and they add $0.40 to a twenty-gallon fill on top of the main tax. Small on its own. Included in the price all the same.
- South Dakota's motor fuel excise adds $5.60 to a twenty-gallon gasoline purchase and $140 across five hundred gallons, ranking 23 nationally by rate. ⚠️ Federal excise is excluded from both figures: it is identical in every state, so including it would compress the interstate differences this page exists to show. Fuel excise is levied per gallon rather than as a percentage, which means its real value erodes with inflation unless a legislature or an indexing formula moves it.
- Diesel and gasoline are taxed at parity or with diesel favored in South Dakota, at $5.60 and $5.60 per twenty gallons respectively. ⚠️ Since most states impose a diesel premium, the absence of one here is a structural feature worth noting in any comparison of operating costs across neighboring jurisdictions.
- South Dakota reports additional fuel levies apart from its principal excise — typically inspection, environmental or underground-storage charges — contributing $0.40 per twenty-gallon fill. ⚠️ These are reported separately by the state and are excluded from the headline rate on which the national rank is computed, so a like-for-like comparison against another state requires knowing whether that state folds equivalents into its main rate or reports them apart.
Your year of fuel tax
A $75,000 salary
| State fuel taxper gallon | 28¢ |
|---|---|
| Fuel tax, year | $175 |
| You must earn | $248 |
| Hours of work | 6.9 hr |
State excise only. Federal fuel tax and any local levy are not included.
Tax in a tank
A $75,000 salary
| State rate | 28¢ a gallon |
|---|---|
| Tank costs | $44.80 |
| Fifty tanks a year | $196.00 |
State excise only. The federal fuel tax and any local levy are on top of this.
Gasoline, diesel, and the charges reported separately
Per-gallon rates are shown as South Dakota publishes them, to a tenth of a cent. The money columns are what those rates come to on a 20-gallon fill and across 500 gallons. Federal tax is charged on top of all of it and is not included.
| Fuel | Per gallon | On a fill | Over a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline | 28.0¢ | $5.60 | $140 |
| Diesel | 28.0¢ | $5.60 | $140 |
| Other state charges | 2.0¢ | $0.40 | — |
What this page cannot tell you
- ⚠️ Federal fuel tax is charged on top of all this and is not included above. It is the same everywhere in the country.
- The tank and the year here are round reference amounts, not a guess at your driving. Your own total scales directly with the gallons you actually buy in South Dakota.
- And some places add local fuel taxes of their own on top of the state's. Those are not counted here.
- ⚠️ Federal motor fuel excise applies in addition to every figure on this page and is deliberately excluded, being uniform nationally. Including it would raise each state's figure by the same amount and compress the differences this page exists to show.
- Quantities are reference points rather than estimates of consumption: liability is strictly proportional to gallons purchased, so any household's figure is this one scaled by its own volume. ⚠️ Fuel purchased outside South Dakota is taxed by the state where it is bought, which is why the figures describe purchases rather than mileage.
- Local option fuel taxes exist in a number of states and are excluded from these figures, which cover the state levy only. Where a county or city in South Dakota imposes its own charge, the true per-gallon burden at that address exceeds what this page reports.
Questions people ask
Why is there no tax line on my fuel receipt?
It is already in the price on the sign. The levy is charged per gallon further up the chain, so there is nothing to add at the pump and nothing to itemize.
How does this compare with other states?
23 of 51 puts it mid-table, where most states sit and where border effects are weakest.
Is diesel taxed the same as gasoline?
No — it carries its own rate, a lower one here. States set the two separately, usually reasoning about road wear from heavy vehicles rather than about the fuel itself, so the gap between them is a policy choice rather than a chemical one.
Why does motor fuel excise not appear as a separate charge?
Motor fuel excise is levied per gallon at the distributor or terminal, not at retail, so it is embedded in the pump price and not separately stated. Because it is volumetric rather than ad valorem, liability per gallon is invariant to the retail price and its real value erodes with inflation absent legislative change.
Where does this state sit in the national distribution?
This state ranks 23 of 51, within the middle third. Cross-border substitution effects are weakest at this position because adjacent-state differentials are typically small relative to travel cost.
How does the diesel rate relate to the gasoline rate here?
Diesel is taxed at a rate set independently of gasoline and is lower in this state. The differential is generally justified by road-wear attribution to heavy vehicles rather than by fuel characteristics, and several states index the two grades differently.