Correctional Officers and Jailers in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,798
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$8,242
15.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,852
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
$53,040
Kept after tax
$44,798
Worth in national money
$50,852
State rank
29
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. South Dakota pays this job around $53,040 at the midpoint, 29 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 223 of 457 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $53,040 the take-home is $44,798; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $50,852 would nationally. The average comes to $53,260, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For correctional officers and jailers the South Dakota median is $53,040, ranking 29 of 49 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.
- Correctional officers and jailers ranks 223 of 457 occupations in South Dakota by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for correctional officers and jailers in South Dakota, on $53,040, is $44,798 — equivalent to $50,852 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $53,260 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Correctional Officers and Jailers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,390 |
| This salary | $53,040 |
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 | $44,798 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,798 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,752 |
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 | $53,040 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,747 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $53,040 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,240 and the ninetieth is $66,390 — 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 $44,798, worked from $53,040. 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 223 of 457.
- Two cautions on $50,852, the adjusted value of that $53,040 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 223 of 457 locally.
- The South Dakota median of $53,040 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,240 to $66,390. 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 $44,798, on $53,040 for work ranking 223 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 223 of 457 in the state.
- This $50,852 adjusted figure, worked from $53,040, 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 223 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 223 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $43,240 and the top tenth $66,390, so most people doing this work in South Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $50,852 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $44,798 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.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($43,240 to $66,390) 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 $50,852 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 $44,798 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.