File Clerks in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,620
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$5,020
13.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,893
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
$36,640
Kept after tax
$31,620
Worth in national money
$35,893
State rank
45
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays file clerks a middle wage of $36,640, 45 of 49 states and about 15.96% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within South Dakota this is lower-paid work. Of 457 occupations the state publishes figures for, file clerks ranks 407. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $36,640 the take-home is $31,620; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $35,893 would nationally. The average lands at $36,210, below the middle of the range.
- South Dakota's $36,640 median for file clerks places it 45 of 49 states, about 15.96% 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.
- Against every occupation South Dakota reports, file clerks ranks 407 of 457, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for file clerks in South Dakota, on $36,640, is $31,620 — equivalent to $35,893 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $36,210 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,900 |
| This salary | $36,640 |
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 | $31,620 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,620 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,354 |
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 | $36,640 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,056 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,640 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,930 and the ninetieth is $37,900 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $31,620, worked from $36,640. 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 407 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 $35,893, the adjusted value of that $36,640 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 407 of 457 in the state.
- The South Dakota median of $36,640 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,930 to $37,900. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The South Dakota take-home of $31,620, on $36,640 for work ranking 407 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 407 of 457 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $35,893 — the adjusted value of that $36,640 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 407 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,930 and the top tenth $37,900, 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 $35,893 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $31,620 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. 49 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 ($31,930 to $37,900) 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 $35,893 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 $31,620 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.