Maintenance Workers, Machinery in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,530
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$6,710
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,737
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
$45,240
Kept after tax
$38,530
Worth in national money
$43,737
State rank
45
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays maintenance workers, machinery a middle wage of $45,240, 45 of 46 states and about 25.65% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 325 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 $45,240 you keep $38,530 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,737 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $47,040, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Dakota's $45,240 median for maintenance workers, machinery places it 45 of 46 states, about 25.65% 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.
- Maintenance workers, machinery ranks 325 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 $38,530 after the full tax stack, from $45,240. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,737 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $47,040 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Maintenance Workers, Machinery
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,530 |
| This salary | $45,240 |
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 | $38,530 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,530 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,087 |
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 | $45,240 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,943 |
| 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 $45,240. The published range is $32,460 up to $60,530, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $38,530 take-home in South Dakota comes from $45,240. 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 325 of 457.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,737 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 325.
- Reported values are medians; for maintenance workers, machinery in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,460 to $60,530. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $38,530, from $45,240, 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 325 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 46 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,737, worked from $45,240, 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 325 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $47,040, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $32,460 at the tenth percentile, $60,530 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 $43,737 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $38,530 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $47,040. 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 ($32,460 to $60,530) 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 $43,737 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 $38,530 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.