Biological Technicians in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,365
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$5,935
14.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,144
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
$41,300
Kept after tax
$35,365
Worth in national money
$40,144
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays biological technicians a middle wage of $41,300, 51 of 51 states and about 28.19% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within South Dakota this is lower-paid work. Of 457 occupations the state publishes figures for, biological technicians ranks 368. 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 $41,300 you keep $35,365, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $40,144 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $46,460, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota's $41,300 median for biological technicians places it 51 of 51 states, about 28.19% 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.
- Against every occupation South Dakota reports, biological technicians ranks 368 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 biological technicians on $41,300 is $35,365. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $40,144 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 $46,460 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Biological Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,620 |
| This salary | $41,300 |
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 | $35,365 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,365 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,751 |
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 | $41,300 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,536 |
| 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 biological technicians in South Dakota earn under $41,300 and half over. The published range runs $38,170 at the tenth percentile to $56,620 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $35,365 take-home in South Dakota comes from $41,300. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 368 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 $40,144, the adjusted value of that $41,300 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 368 of 457 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for biological technicians in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,170 to $56,620; 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.
- Retained pay of $35,365, from $41,300, assumes a single South Dakota filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 368 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 51 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $40,144 — the adjusted value of that $41,300 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 368 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 $46,460, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $38,170 at the bottom tenth to $56,620 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $40,144 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $35,365 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.
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 $46,460. 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 ($38,170 to $56,620) 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 $40,144 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 $35,365 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.