Food Service Managers in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,904
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$9,736
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,783
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
$60,640
Kept after tax
$50,904
Worth in national money
$57,783
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food service managers is on the low side in South Dakota. The middle earner gets $60,640. That is 47 of 51 states, and about 12.61% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 181 of 457 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $60,640 you keep $50,904, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $57,783 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $63,920, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For food service managers, South Dakota sits in the lower band at $60,640, ranking 47 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 12.61%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Food service managers ranks 181 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.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for food service managers on $60,640 is $50,904. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $57,783 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 $63,920 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Service Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,010 |
| This salary | $60,640 |
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 | $50,904 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,904 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,399 |
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 | $60,640 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,625 |
| 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 food service managers in South Dakota earn under $60,640 and half over. The published range runs $50,880 at the tenth percentile to $79,010 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $50,904 take-home in South Dakota comes from $60,640. 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 181 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 $57,783, the adjusted value of that $60,640 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 181 of 457 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for food service managers in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,880 to $79,010; 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 $50,904, from $60,640, 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 181 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $57,783 — the adjusted value of that $60,640 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 181 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 $63,920 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 $50,880 and the top tenth $79,010, 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 $57,783.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $50,904 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 $63,920. 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 ($50,880 to $79,010) 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 $57,783 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 $50,904 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.