Accountants and Auditors in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,322
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$14,558
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,014
South Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in South Dakota — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$78,880
Kept after tax
$64,322
Worth in national money
$73,014
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota sits in the middle of the pack for accountants and auditors. The median is $78,880, ranking 31 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 457 occupations South Dakota reports, accountants and auditors comes in at 87 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $78,880 you keep $64,322 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $73,014 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $85,030, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Dakota occupies the middle band for accountants and auditors: a median of $78,880, ranking 31 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Accountants and auditors ranks 87 of 457 occupations by median in South Dakota, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $64,322 after the full tax stack, from $78,880. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $73,014 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $85,030 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Accountants and Auditors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $115,470 |
| This salary | $78,880 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in South Dakota | $64,322 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,322 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,822 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $78,880 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,424 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in South Dakota earn less than $78,880. The published range is $61,190 up to $115,470, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $64,322, worked from $78,880. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 87 of 457.
- Two cautions on $73,014, the adjusted value of that $78,880 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of South Dakota. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 87 of 457 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for accountants and auditors in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $61,190 to $115,470. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The South Dakota take-home of $64,322, on $78,880 for work ranking 87 of 457 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 87 of 457 in the state.
- This $73,014 adjusted figure, worked from $78,880, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 87 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 87 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $85,030 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $61,190 and the top tenth $115,470, so most people doing this work in South Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in South Dakota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $73,014 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $64,322 survives, because South Dakota levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in South Dakota is $85,030. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($61,190 to $115,470) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to South Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
South Dakota's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $73,014 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
South Dakota levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $64,322 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.