Fast Food and Counter Workers in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,875
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$3,615
12.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,372
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
$29,490
Kept after tax
$25,875
Worth in national money
$29,372
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota sits in the middle of the pack for fast food and counter workers. The median is $29,490, ranking 25 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in South Dakota, this one sits low: 448 of 457 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $29,490 you keep $25,875, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $29,372 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $30,900, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota occupies the middle band for fast food and counter workers: a median of $29,490, ranking 25 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Fast food and counter workers occupies position 448 of 457 in South Dakota's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for fast food and counter workers on $29,490 is $25,875. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $29,372 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 $30,900 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Fast Food and Counter Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,380 |
| This salary | $29,490 |
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 | $25,875 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,875 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,745 |
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 | $29,490 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,319 |
| 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 fast food and counter workers in South Dakota earn under $29,490 and half over. The published range runs $27,880 at the tenth percentile to $36,380 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 $25,875, worked from $29,490. 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 448 of 457.
- Two cautions on $29,372, the adjusted value of that $29,490 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 448 of 457 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for fast food and counter workers in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,880 to $36,380; 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 $25,875, on $29,490 for work ranking 448 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 448 of 457 in the state.
- This $29,372 adjusted figure, worked from $29,490, 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 448 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 448 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 $30,900, 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 $27,880 and the top tenth $36,380, so most people doing this work in South Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $29,372.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $25,875 of this wage reaches your account, because South Dakota takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $30,900. 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 ($27,880 to $36,380) 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 $29,372 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 $25,875 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.