Art Directors in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,690
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$10,920
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,216
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
$66,610
Kept after tax
$55,690
Worth in national money
$63,216
State rank
43
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays art directors a middle wage of $66,610, 43 of 46 states and about 42% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 138 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 $66,610 you keep $55,690, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $63,216 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $69,360, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota's $66,610 median for art directors places it 43 of 46 states, about 42% 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.
- Art directors ranks 138 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 art directors on $66,610 is $55,690. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $63,216 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 $69,360 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,530 |
| This salary | $66,610 |
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 | $55,690 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,690 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,907 |
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 | $66,610 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$8,159 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of art directors in South Dakota earn under $66,610 and half over. The published range runs $56,730 at the tenth percentile to $85,530 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $55,690, worked from $66,610. 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 138 of 457.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $63,216 uses one figure for the whole of South Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 457 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 138.
- Figures are distribution medians for art directors in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,730 to $85,530; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The South Dakota take-home of $55,690, on $66,610 for work ranking 138 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 138 of 457 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $63,216, worked from $66,610, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular South Dakota address, on work sitting at 138 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 $69,360 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $56,730 at the bottom tenth to $85,530 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $63,216 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $55,690 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $69,360. 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 ($56,730 to $85,530) 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 $63,216 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 $55,690 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.