Business Operations Specialists, All Other in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$68,867
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$16,473
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,173
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
$85,340
Kept after tax
$68,867
Worth in national money
$78,173
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. South Dakota pays this job a middle wage of $85,340, ranking 15 of 51 states and sitting about 2.76% above the national middle.
- Within South Dakota this is well-paid work. Of 457 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 67 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $85,340 you keep $68,867, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $78,173 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $91,300, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota's median for business operations specialists, all other is $85,340, about 2.76% above the national figure and 15 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Ranked against every occupation South Dakota publishes a median for, business operations specialists, all other sits 67 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 business operations specialists, all other on $85,340 is $68,867. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $78,173 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 $91,300 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Business Operations Specialists, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $85,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,960 |
| This salary | $85,340 |
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 | $68,867 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,867 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$7,304 |
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 | $85,340 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$10,090 |
| 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 $85,340. The published range is $61,110 up to $129,960, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $68,867, from $85,340, 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 67 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 $78,173, the adjusted value of that $85,340 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 67 of 457 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for business operations specialists, all other in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $61,110 to $129,960. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for South Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $68,867 from $85,340. 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 67 of 457 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $78,173 — the adjusted value of that $85,340 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 67 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 $91,300 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $61,110 and the top tenth $129,960 — 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 $78,173.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $68,867 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?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $91,300. 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 ($61,110) and the ninetieth ($129,960) 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 $78,173 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 $68,867 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.