Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,221
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$3,699
12.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,764
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
$29,920
Kept after tax
$26,221
Worth in national money
$29,764
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. South Dakota is 24 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $29,920. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within South Dakota this is lower-paid work. Of 457 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 443. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $29,920 you keep $26,221 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $29,764 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $31,550, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Dakota ranks 24 of 51 for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers at $29,920. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation South Dakota reports, dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers ranks 443 of 457, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $26,221 after the full tax stack, from $29,920. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $29,764 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $31,550 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,960 |
| This salary | $29,920 |
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 | $26,221 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,221 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,781 |
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 | $29,920 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,364 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in South Dakota earn less than $29,920. The published range is $27,110 up to $37,960, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $26,221, worked from $29,920. 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 443 of 457.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $29,764 uses one figure for the whole of South Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 457 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 443.
- Reported values are medians; for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $27,110 to $37,960. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The South Dakota take-home of $26,221, on $29,920 for work ranking 443 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 443 of 457 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $29,764, worked from $29,920, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular South Dakota address, on work sitting at 443 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $31,550, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $27,110 at the bottom tenth to $37,960 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 $29,764 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $26,221 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $31,550. 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 ($27,110 to $37,960) 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 $29,764 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 $26,221 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.