Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,704
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$10,926
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,232
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
$66,630
Kept after tax
$55,704
Worth in national money
$63,232
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. South Dakota pays this job a middle wage of $66,630, 48 of 51 states and about 16.97% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 457 occupations South Dakota reports figures for, this is number 137.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $66,630 you keep $55,704, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $63,232 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $74,120, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota's $66,630 median for nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary places it 48 of 51 states, about 16.97% 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.
- In South Dakota's occupational distribution, nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary sits at 137 of 457 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary on $66,630 is $55,704. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $63,232 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $74,120 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $97,260 |
| This salary | $66,630 |
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 | $55,704 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,704 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,908 |
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 | $66,630 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$8,161 |
| 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 $66,630. The published range is $59,160 up to $97,260, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $55,704, from $66,630, 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 137 of 457 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $63,232, the adjusted value of that $66,630 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of South Dakota. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 137 of 457 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $59,160 to $97,260. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for South Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $55,704 from $66,630. 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 137 of 457 locally.
- This $63,232 adjusted figure, worked from $66,630, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 137 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 137 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 $74,120, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $59,160 and the top tenth $97,260, so most people doing this work in South Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $63,232.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $55,704 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.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $74,120. 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 ($59,160 to $97,260) 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 $63,232 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 $55,704 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.