Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,321
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$6,659
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,500
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
$44,980
Kept after tax
$38,321
Worth in national money
$43,500
State rank
29
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. South Dakota is 29 of 47 states for this job, with a middle wage of $44,980. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 329 of 457 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $44,980 you keep $38,321, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $43,500 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $46,700, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota ranks 29 of 47 for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders at $44,980. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 329 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.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders on $44,980 is $38,321. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $43,500 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 $46,700 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,980 |
| Top tenth earn over | $53,800 |
| This salary | $44,980 |
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 | $38,321 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,321 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,065 |
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 | $44,980 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,916 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $44,980 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,720 and the ninetieth is $53,800 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $38,321, from $44,980, 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 329 of 457 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $43,500, the adjusted value of that $44,980 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 329 of 457 locally.
- The South Dakota median of $44,980 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,720 to $53,800. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for South Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,321 from $44,980. 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 329 of 457 locally.
- This $43,500 adjusted figure, worked from $44,980, 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 329 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 329 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 $46,700, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $39,720 and the top tenth $53,800, so most people doing this work in South Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $43,500 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $38,321 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 47 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 $46,700. 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 ($39,720 to $53,800) 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 $43,500 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 $38,321 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.