Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,376
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$5,694
14.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,022
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
$40,070
Kept after tax
$34,376
Worth in national money
$39,022
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in South Dakota. The middle earner gets $40,070. That is 39 of 51 states, and about 15.03% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 457 occupations South Dakota publishes, this job lands at 375. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $40,070 you keep $34,376, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $39,022 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $42,850, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For exercise trainers and group fitness instructors, South Dakota sits in the lower band at $40,070, ranking 39 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 15.03%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within South Dakota, this work ranks 375 of 457 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for exercise trainers and group fitness instructors on $40,070 is $34,376. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $39,022 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $42,850 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,730 |
| This salary | $40,070 |
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 | $34,376 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,376 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,646 |
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 | $40,070 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,410 |
| 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 exercise trainers and group fitness instructors in South Dakota earn under $40,070 and half over. The published range runs $30,090 at the tenth percentile to $58,730 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 $34,376, worked from $40,070. 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 375 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 $39,022, the adjusted value of that $40,070 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 375 of 457 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for exercise trainers and group fitness instructors in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,090 to $58,730; 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 $34,376, on $40,070 for work ranking 375 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 375 of 457 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $39,022 — the adjusted value of that $40,070 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 375 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 $42,850 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 $30,090 and the top tenth $58,730, 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 $39,022 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $34,376 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?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $42,850. 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 ($30,090 to $58,730) 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 $39,022 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 $34,376 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.