Childcare Workers in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,619
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$3,321
11.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,946
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
$27,940
Kept after tax
$24,619
Worth in national money
$27,946
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota is among the lower-paying states for childcare workers. The middle earner takes $27,940, ranking 46 of 51 states — about 20.13% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in South Dakota, this one sits low: 455 of 457 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $27,940 you keep $24,619, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $27,946 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $29,720, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota ranks 46 of 51 for childcare workers, with a median of $27,940 — about 20.13% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Childcare workers occupies position 455 of 457 in South Dakota's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for childcare workers on $27,940 is $24,619. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $27,946 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 $29,720 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Childcare Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $27,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,840 |
| This salary | $27,940 |
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 | $24,619 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,619 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,611 |
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 | $27,940 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,144 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $27,940 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $26,500 and the ninetieth is $37,840 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $24,619, worked from $27,940. 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 455 of 457.
- Two cautions on $27,946, the adjusted value of that $27,940 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of South Dakota. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 455 of 457 locally.
- The South Dakota median of $27,940 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $26,500 to $37,840. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The South Dakota take-home of $24,619, on $27,940 for work ranking 455 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 455 of 457 in the state.
- This $27,946 adjusted figure, worked from $27,940, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 455 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 455 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $29,720, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $26,500 at the tenth percentile, $37,840 at the ninetieth.
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 $27,946.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $24,619 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 $29,720. 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 ($26,500 to $37,840) 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 $27,946 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 $24,619 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.