Massage Therapists in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,962
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$8,038
15.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,903
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
$52,000
Kept after tax
$43,962
Worth in national money
$49,903
State rank
37
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays massage therapists a middle wage of $52,000, 37 of 50 states and about 11.04% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Massage therapists ranks 230 among 457 occupations South Dakota publishes pay for.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $52,000 the take-home is $43,962; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $49,903 would nationally. The average lands at $48,790, below the middle of the range.
- South Dakota's $52,000 median for massage therapists places it 37 of 50 states, about 11.04% 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 230 of 457 in South Dakota places massage therapists 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 massage therapists in South Dakota, on $52,000, is $43,962 — equivalent to $49,903 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 $48,790 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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: Massage Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,310 |
| This salary | $52,000 |
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 | $43,962 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,962 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,663 |
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 | $52,000 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,639 |
| 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 massage therapists in South Dakota earn under $52,000 and half over. The published range runs $35,720 at the tenth percentile to $56,310 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $43,962 take-home in South Dakota comes from $52,000. 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 230 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 $49,903, the adjusted value of that $52,000 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 230 of 457 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for massage therapists in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,720 to $56,310; 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.
- Retained pay of $43,962, from $52,000, 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 230 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $49,903 — the adjusted value of that $52,000 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 230 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $48,790 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $35,720 at the tenth percentile, $56,310 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 $49,903 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $43,962 survives, because South Dakota levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 50 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 $48,790. 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 ($35,720 to $56,310) 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 $49,903 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 $43,962 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.