Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,697
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$13,873
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,170
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
$76,570
Kept after tax
$62,697
Worth in national money
$71,170
State rank
44
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays this job a middle wage of $76,570, 44 of 49 states and about 9.51% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within South Dakota this is well-paid work. Of 457 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 97 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $76,570 you keep $62,697, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $71,170 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $83,890, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota's $76,570 median for biological science teachers, postsecondary places it 44 of 49 states, about 9.51% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation South Dakota publishes a median for, biological science teachers, postsecondary sits 97 of 457 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for biological science teachers, postsecondary on $76,570 is $62,697. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $71,170 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 $83,890 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,370 |
| This salary | $76,570 |
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 | $62,697 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,697 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,650 |
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 | $76,570 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,186 |
| 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 $76,570. The published range is $58,490 up to $126,370, 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 $62,697, worked from $76,570. 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 97 of 457.
- One number stands for prices across all of South Dakota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $71,170, the adjusted value of that $76,570 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 97 of 457 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for biological science teachers, postsecondary in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $58,490 to $126,370. 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 $62,697, on $76,570 for work ranking 97 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 97 of 457 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $71,170 — the adjusted value of that $76,570 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 97 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 $83,890, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $58,490 and the top tenth $126,370 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $71,170.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $62,697 of this wage reaches your account, because South Dakota takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $83,890. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($58,490) and the ninetieth ($126,370) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $71,170 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 $62,697 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.