Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,108
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$9,052
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,609
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
$57,160
Kept after tax
$48,108
Worth in national money
$54,609
State rank
35
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for earth drillers, except oil and gas is on the low side in South Dakota. The middle earner gets $57,160. That is 35 of 48 states, and about 5.03% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 205 of 457 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $57,160 you keep $48,108 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,609 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $57,860, since top earners drag the number up.
- For earth drillers, except oil and gas, South Dakota sits in the lower band at $57,160, ranking 35 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 5.03%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 205 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.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $48,108 after the full tax stack, from $57,160. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,609 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $57,860 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,100 |
| This salary | $57,160 |
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 | $48,108 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,108 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,103 |
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 | $57,160 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,171 |
| 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 $57,160. The published range is $48,310 up to $70,100, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $48,108, from $57,160, 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 205 of 457 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $54,609, the adjusted value of that $57,160 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 205 of 457 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for earth drillers, except oil and gas in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,310 to $70,100. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for South Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $48,108 from $57,160. 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 205 of 457 locally.
- This $54,609 adjusted figure, worked from $57,160, 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 205 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 205 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $48,310 and the top tenth $70,100, so most people doing this work in South Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $54,609.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $48,108 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($48,310 to $70,100) 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 $54,609 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 $48,108 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.