Lawyers in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$80,615
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$21,425
21.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$91,509
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
$102,040
Kept after tax
$80,615
Worth in national money
$91,509
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for lawyers is on the low side in South Dakota. The middle earner gets $102,040. That is 47 of 51 states, and about 36.09% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Within South Dakota this is well-paid work. Of 457 occupations with published figures in the state, lawyers ranks 36 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $102,040 the take-home is $80,615; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $91,509 would nationally. The average comes to $132,270, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For lawyers, South Dakota sits in the lower band at $102,040, ranking 47 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 36.09%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Ranked against every occupation South Dakota publishes a median for, lawyers sits 36 of 457 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for lawyers in South Dakota, on $102,040, is $80,615 — equivalent to $91,509 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 $132,270 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Lawyers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $76,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $234,690 |
| This salary | $102,040 |
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 | $80,615 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,615 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$8,551 |
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 | $102,040 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$11,811 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $102,040 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $76,920 and the ninetieth is $234,690 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $80,615, worked from $102,040. 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 36 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 $91,509, the adjusted value of that $102,040 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 36 of 457 in the state.
- The South Dakota median of $102,040 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $76,920 to $234,690. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The South Dakota take-home of $80,615, on $102,040 for work ranking 36 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 36 of 457 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $91,509 — the adjusted value of that $102,040 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 36 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 $132,270, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $76,920 and the top tenth $234,690 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in South Dakota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $91,509 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $80,615 survives, because South Dakota levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 $132,270. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($76,920) and the ninetieth ($234,690) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $91,509 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 $80,615 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.