Helpers--Electricians in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,801
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$4,819
13.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,963
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
$35,620
Kept after tax
$30,801
Worth in national money
$34,963
State rank
45
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays helpers--electricians a middle wage of $35,620, 45 of 47 states and about 16.52% 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, helpers--electricians ranks 417. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $35,620 you keep $30,801, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,963 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $36,940, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota's $35,620 median for helpers--electricians places it 45 of 47 states, about 16.52% 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, helpers--electricians ranks 417 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.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for helpers--electricians on $35,620 is $30,801. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,963 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 $36,940 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Helpers--Electricians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,620 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,760 |
| This salary | $35,620 |
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 | $30,801 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,801 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,267 |
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 | $35,620 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,951 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,620 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,510 and the ninetieth is $45,760 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $30,801 take-home in South Dakota comes from $35,620. 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 417 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 $34,963, the adjusted value of that $35,620 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 417 of 457 in the state.
- The South Dakota median of $35,620 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,510 to $45,760. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $30,801, from $35,620, 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 417 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $34,963 — the adjusted value of that $35,620 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 417 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 $36,940 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 $30,510 and the top tenth $45,760, 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 $34,963 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $30,801 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. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $36,940. 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 ($30,510 to $45,760) 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 $34,963 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 $30,801 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.