Court, Municipal, and License Clerks in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,413
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$6,437
14.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,469
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
$43,850
Kept after tax
$37,413
Worth in national money
$42,469
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for court, municipal, and license clerks is on the low side in South Dakota. The middle earner gets $43,850. That is 42 of 51 states, and about 9.96% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 457 occupations South Dakota publishes, court, municipal, and license clerks lands at 349. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $43,850 the take-home is $37,413; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,469 would nationally. The average comes to $44,750, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For court, municipal, and license clerks, South Dakota sits in the lower band at $43,850, ranking 42 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 9.96%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within South Dakota, this work ranks 349 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.
- Post-tax income for court, municipal, and license clerks in South Dakota, on $43,850, is $37,413 — equivalent to $42,469 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 $44,750 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Court, Municipal, and License Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,260 |
| This salary | $43,850 |
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 | $37,413 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,413 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,968 |
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 | $43,850 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,799 |
| 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 court, municipal, and license clerks in South Dakota earn under $43,850 and half over. The published range runs $34,490 at the tenth percentile to $58,260 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $37,413, from $43,850, 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 349 of 457 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $42,469, the adjusted value of that $43,850 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 349 of 457 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for court, municipal, and license clerks in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,490 to $58,260; 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 $37,413 from $43,850. 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 349 of 457 locally.
- This $42,469 adjusted figure, worked from $43,850, 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 349 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 349 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $34,490 at the bottom tenth to $58,260 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 $42,469 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $37,413 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?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,490 to $58,260) 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 $42,469 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 $37,413 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.