Detectives and Criminal Investigators in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,513
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$14,217
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,096
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
$77,730
Kept after tax
$63,513
Worth in national money
$72,096
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $77,730, ranking 37 of 51 states — about 17.12% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in South Dakota. It ranks 91 out of 457 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $77,730 you keep $63,513, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $72,096 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $91,060, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota ranks 37 of 51 for detectives and criminal investigators, with a median of $77,730 — about 17.12% 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.
- Within South Dakota, detectives and criminal investigators ranks 91 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.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for detectives and criminal investigators on $77,730 is $63,513. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $72,096 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 $91,060 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Detectives and Criminal Investigators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $149,280 |
| This salary | $77,730 |
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 | $63,513 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,513 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,737 |
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 | $77,730 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,305 |
| 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 detectives and criminal investigators in South Dakota earn under $77,730 and half over. The published range runs $60,210 at the tenth percentile to $149,280 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $63,513 take-home in South Dakota comes from $77,730. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 91 of 457.
- Two cautions on $72,096, the adjusted value of that $77,730 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 91 of 457 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for detectives and criminal investigators in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $60,210 to $149,280; 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.
- Retained pay of $63,513, from $77,730, assumes a single South Dakota filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 91 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 51 for it.
- This $72,096 adjusted figure, worked from $77,730, 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 91 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 91 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 $91,060 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 $60,210, the highest tenth $149,280, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $72,096 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $63,513 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 $91,060. 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 ($60,210) and the ninetieth ($149,280) 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 $72,096 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 $63,513 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.