Health Education Specialists in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,277
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$9,093
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,801
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
$57,370
Kept after tax
$48,277
Worth in national money
$54,801
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for health education specialists is on the low side in South Dakota. The middle earner gets $57,370. That is 44 of 51 states, and about 10.46% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 204 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 $57,370 you keep $48,277, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,801 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $62,030, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For health education specialists, South Dakota sits in the lower band at $57,370, ranking 44 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 10.46%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Health education specialists ranks 204 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 health education specialists on $57,370 is $48,277. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,801 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 $62,030 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Health Education Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,360 |
| This salary | $57,370 |
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 | $48,277 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,277 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,121 |
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 | $57,370 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,193 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in South Dakota earn less than $57,370. The published range is $46,400 up to $78,360, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $48,277 take-home in South Dakota comes from $57,370. 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 204 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 $54,801, the adjusted value of that $57,370 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 204 of 457 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for health education specialists in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,400 to $78,360. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $48,277, from $57,370, 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 204 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $54,801 — the adjusted value of that $57,370 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 204 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 $62,030, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $46,400 and the top tenth $78,360, 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 $54,801 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $48,277 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 $62,030. 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 ($46,400 to $78,360) 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 $54,801 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 $48,277 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.