Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,431
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$7,419
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,030
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
$48,850
Kept after tax
$41,431
Worth in national money
$47,030
State rank
33
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for drywall and ceiling tile installers is on the low side in South Dakota. The middle earner gets $48,850. That is 33 of 49 states, and about 17.11% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Drywall and ceiling tile installers ranks 270 among 457 occupations South Dakota publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,850 you keep $41,431 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $47,030 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $50,750, since top earners drag the number up.
- For drywall and ceiling tile installers, South Dakota sits in the lower band at $48,850, ranking 33 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 17.11%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 270 of 457 in South Dakota places drywall and ceiling tile installers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $41,431 after the full tax stack, from $48,850. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $47,030 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $50,750 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,380 |
| This salary | $48,850 |
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 | $41,431 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,431 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,394 |
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 | $48,850 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,315 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,850 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $42,400 and the ninetieth is $59,380 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $41,431, from $48,850, 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 270 of 457 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of South Dakota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $47,030, the adjusted value of that $48,850 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 270 of 457 in the state.
- The South Dakota median of $48,850 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $42,400 to $59,380. 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 $41,431 from $48,850. 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 270 of 457 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $47,030 — the adjusted value of that $48,850 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 270 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 $50,750 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $42,400 and the top tenth $59,380, 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 $47,030 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $41,431 survives, because South Dakota levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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.
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 $50,750. 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 ($42,400 to $59,380) 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 $47,030 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 $41,431 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.