Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,579
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$7,211
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,063
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
$47,790
Kept after tax
$40,579
Worth in national money
$46,063
State rank
34
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $47,790, ranking 34 of 50 states — about 14% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 292 of 457 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $47,790 you keep $40,579 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $46,063 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $47,760.
- South Dakota ranks 34 of 50 for legal secretaries and administrative assistants, with a median of $47,790 — about 14% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Legal secretaries and administrative assistants ranks 292 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.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $40,579 after the full tax stack, from $47,790. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $46,063 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $47,760 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,540 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,300 |
| This salary | $47,790 |
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 | $40,579 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,579 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,304 |
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 | $47,790 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,205 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,790 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,540 and the ninetieth is $58,300 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $40,579, from $47,790, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 292 of 457 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of South Dakota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $46,063, the adjusted value of that $47,790 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 292 of 457 in the state.
- The South Dakota median of $47,790 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,540 to $58,300. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for South Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $40,579 from $47,790. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 292 of 457 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $46,063 — the adjusted value of that $47,790 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 292 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,540 at the tenth percentile, $58,300 at the ninetieth.
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 $46,063 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $40,579 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?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,540 to $58,300) 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 $46,063 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 $40,579 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.