Chief Executives in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$203,211
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$77,689
27.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$230,672
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
$280,900
Kept after tax
$203,211
Worth in national money
$230,672
State rank
9
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. South Dakota pays chief executives a middle wage of $280,900, ranking 9 of 46 states and sitting about 31.27% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in South Dakota. It ranks 1 out of 457 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $280,900 you keep $203,211 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $230,672 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $336,560, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Dakota's median for chief executives is $280,900, about 31.27% above the national figure and 9 of 46 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within South Dakota, chief executives ranks 1 of 457 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $203,211 after the full tax stack, from $280,900. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $230,672 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $336,560 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Chief Executives
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $175,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $280,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $546,760 |
| This salary | $280,900 |
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 | $203,211 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $203,211 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$21,554 |
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 | $280,900 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$33,432 |
| 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 $280,900. The published range is $175,590 up to $546,760, 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 $203,211, worked from $280,900. 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 1 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 $230,672, the adjusted value of that $280,900 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 1 of 457 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for chief executives in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $175,590 to $546,760. 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 $203,211, on $280,900 for work ranking 1 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 1 of 457 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $230,672 — the adjusted value of that $280,900 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 1 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 $336,560 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $175,590, the highest tenth $546,760, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $230,672 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $203,211 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 46 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 $336,560. 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 ($175,590) and the ninetieth ($546,760) 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 $230,672 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 $203,211 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.