Editors in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,763
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$8,967
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,217
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
$56,730
Kept after tax
$47,763
Worth in national money
$54,217
State rank
40
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays editors a middle wage of $56,730, 40 of 50 states and about 27.19% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 207 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 $56,730 you keep $47,763 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,217 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $60,200, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Dakota's $56,730 median for editors places it 40 of 50 states, about 27.19% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Editors ranks 207 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 $47,763 after the full tax stack, from $56,730. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,217 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $60,200 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Editors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,180 |
| This salary | $56,730 |
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 | $47,763 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,763 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,066 |
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 | $56,730 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,127 |
| 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 editors in South Dakota earn under $56,730 and half over. The published range runs $47,770 at the tenth percentile to $79,180 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $47,763 take-home in South Dakota comes from $56,730. 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 207 of 457.
- One number stands for prices across all of South Dakota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,217, the adjusted value of that $56,730 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 207 of 457 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for editors in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,770 to $79,180; 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 $47,763, from $56,730, 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 207 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $54,217 — the adjusted value of that $56,730 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 207 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 $60,200, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,770 and the top tenth $79,180, 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 $54,217 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $47,763 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 50 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 $60,200. 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 ($47,770 to $79,180) 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 $54,217 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 $47,763 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.