Bartenders in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,803
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$3,597
12.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,290
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
$29,400
Kept after tax
$25,803
Worth in national money
$29,290
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. South Dakota is 29 of 51 states for bartenders, with a middle wage of $29,400. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within South Dakota this is lower-paid work. Of 457 occupations the state publishes figures for, bartenders ranks 450. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $29,400 you keep $25,803, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $29,290 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $31,940, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota ranks 29 of 51 for bartenders at $29,400. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation South Dakota reports, bartenders ranks 450 of 457, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for bartenders on $29,400 is $25,803. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $29,290 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 $31,940 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bartenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,180 |
| This salary | $29,400 |
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 | $25,803 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,803 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,737 |
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 | $29,400 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,310 |
| 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 bartenders in South Dakota earn under $29,400 and half over. The published range runs $27,400 at the tenth percentile to $38,180 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $25,803, from $29,400, 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 450 of 457 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $29,290, the adjusted value of that $29,400 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 450 of 457 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for bartenders in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,400 to $38,180; 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.
- Take-home for South Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $25,803 from $29,400. 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 450 of 457 locally.
- This $29,290 adjusted figure, worked from $29,400, 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 450 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 450 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $31,940, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $27,400 at the tenth percentile, $38,180 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. South Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $29,290 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $25,803 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $31,940. 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 ($27,400 to $38,180) 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 $29,290 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 $25,803 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.