Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,826
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$5,804
14.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,533
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
$40,630
Kept after tax
$34,826
Worth in national money
$39,533
State rank
31
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. South Dakota pays this job around $40,630 at the midpoint, 31 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 457 occupations South Dakota publishes, this job lands at 372. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $40,630 you keep $34,826 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $39,533 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $41,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- For broadcast announcers and radio disc jockeys the South Dakota median is $40,630, ranking 31 of 47 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within South Dakota, this work ranks 372 of 457 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $34,826 after the full tax stack, from $40,630. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $39,533 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $41,920 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $53,940 |
| This salary | $40,630 |
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 | $34,826 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,826 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,694 |
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 | $40,630 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,467 |
| 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 broadcast announcers and radio disc jockeys in South Dakota earn under $40,630 and half over. The published range runs $28,580 at the tenth percentile to $53,940 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $34,826, from $40,630, 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 372 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 $39,533, the adjusted value of that $40,630 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 372 of 457 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for broadcast announcers and radio disc jockeys in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,580 to $53,940; 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 $34,826 from $40,630. 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 372 of 457 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $39,533 — the adjusted value of that $40,630 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 372 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 $41,920, 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 $28,580 at the bottom tenth to $53,940 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 $39,533 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $34,826 survives, because South Dakota levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $41,920. 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 ($28,580 to $53,940) 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 $39,533 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 $34,826 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.