Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,426
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$6,684
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,619
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
$45,110
Kept after tax
$38,426
Worth in national money
$43,619
State rank
39
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays this job a middle wage of $45,110, 39 of 47 states and about 14.14% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 327 among 457 occupations South Dakota publishes pay for.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $45,110 the take-home is $38,426; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,619 would nationally. The average comes to $48,520, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- South Dakota's $45,110 median for jewelers and precious stone and metal workers places it 39 of 47 states, about 14.14% 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.
- Position 327 of 457 in South Dakota places jewelers and precious stone and metal workers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for jewelers and precious stone and metal workers in South Dakota, on $45,110, is $38,426 — equivalent to $43,619 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 $48,520 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,770 |
| This salary | $45,110 |
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 | $38,426 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,426 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,076 |
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 | $45,110 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,929 |
| 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 $45,110. The published range is $37,350 up to $61,770, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $38,426 take-home in South Dakota comes from $45,110. 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 327 of 457.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,619 uses one figure for the whole of South Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 457 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 327.
- Reported values are medians; for jewelers and precious stone and metal workers in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,350 to $61,770. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $38,426, from $45,110, 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 327 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 47 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,619, worked from $45,110, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular South Dakota address, on work sitting at 327 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 $48,520, 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 — $37,350 at the tenth percentile, $61,770 at the ninetieth.
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 $43,619.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $38,426 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.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $48,520. 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 ($37,350 to $61,770) 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 $43,619 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 $38,426 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.