Education Administrators, Postsecondary in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$97,496
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$28,664
22.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$110,672
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
$126,160
Kept after tax
$97,496
Worth in national money
$110,672
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. South Dakota's middle earner gets $126,160, putting the state 7 of 51 — about 20.62% ahead of the national figure.
- Within South Dakota this is well-paid work. Of 457 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 20 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $126,160 you keep $97,496 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $110,672 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $138,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- For education administrators, postsecondary, South Dakota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $126,160, ranking 7 of 51 and running about 20.62% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation South Dakota publishes a median for, education administrators, postsecondary sits 20 of 457 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $97,496 after the full tax stack, from $126,160. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $110,672 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $138,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $86,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $126,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $228,660 |
| This salary | $126,160 |
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 | $97,496 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $97,496 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$10,341 |
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 | $126,160 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$14,702 |
| 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 education administrators, postsecondary in South Dakota earn under $126,160 and half over. The published range runs $86,610 at the tenth percentile to $228,660 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $97,496, worked from $126,160. 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 20 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 $110,672, the adjusted value of that $126,160 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 20 of 457 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for education administrators, postsecondary in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $86,610 to $228,660; 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.
- The South Dakota take-home of $97,496, on $126,160 for work ranking 20 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 20 of 457 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $110,672 — the adjusted value of that $126,160 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 20 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $138,640, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $86,610 and the top tenth $228,660 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $110,672 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $97,496 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 $138,640. 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 ($86,610) and the ninetieth ($228,660) 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 $110,672 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 $97,496 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.