Home Health and Personal Care Aides in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,504
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$5,236
13.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,897
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
$37,740
Kept after tax
$32,504
Worth in national money
$36,897
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota sits in the middle of the pack for home health and personal care aides. The median is $37,740, ranking 18 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: 398 of 457 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $37,740 the take-home is $32,504; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $36,897 would nationally. The average comes to $39,260, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- South Dakota occupies the middle band for home health and personal care aides: a median of $37,740, ranking 18 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.
- Home health and personal care aides occupies position 398 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.
- Post-tax income for home health and personal care aides in South Dakota, on $37,740, is $32,504 — equivalent to $36,897 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 $39,260 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,320 |
| This salary | $37,740 |
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 | $32,504 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,504 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,448 |
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 | $37,740 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,170 |
| 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 home health and personal care aides in South Dakota earn under $37,740 and half over. The published range runs $32,500 at the tenth percentile to $47,320 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 $32,504, worked from $37,740. 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 398 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 $36,897, the adjusted value of that $37,740 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 398 of 457 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for home health and personal care aides in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,500 to $47,320; 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 $32,504, on $37,740 for work ranking 398 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 398 of 457 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $36,897 — the adjusted value of that $37,740 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 398 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 $39,260, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $32,500 at the tenth percentile, $47,320 at the ninetieth.
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 $36,897 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $32,504 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 $39,260. 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 ($32,500 to $47,320) 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 $36,897 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 $32,504 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.