Architectural and Civil Drafters in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,340
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$8,130
15.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,332
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
$52,470
Kept after tax
$44,340
Worth in national money
$50,332
State rank
49
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays this job a middle wage of $52,470, 49 of 50 states and about 20.68% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 228 of 457 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $52,470 you keep $44,340, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $50,332 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $55,530, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota's $52,470 median for architectural and civil drafters places it 49 of 50 states, about 20.68% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Architectural and civil drafters ranks 228 of 457 occupations in South Dakota by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for architectural and civil drafters on $52,470 is $44,340. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $50,332 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $55,530 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Architectural and Civil Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,940 |
| This salary | $52,470 |
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 | $44,340 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,340 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,703 |
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 | $52,470 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,688 |
| 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 $52,470. The published range is $41,070 up to $72,940, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $44,340, from $52,470, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 228 of 457 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of South Dakota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $50,332, the adjusted value of that $52,470 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 228 of 457 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for architectural and civil drafters in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $41,070 to $72,940. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for South Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $44,340 from $52,470. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 228 of 457 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $50,332 — the adjusted value of that $52,470 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 228 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 $55,530 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 $41,070 and the top tenth $72,940, 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 $50,332 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $44,340 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $55,530. 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 ($41,070 to $72,940) 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 $50,332 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 $44,340 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.