Occupational Therapy Assistants in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,321
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$8,859
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,715
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
$56,180
Kept after tax
$47,321
Worth in national money
$53,715
State rank
49
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 $56,180, ranking 49 of 50 states — about 22.3% 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: 209 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 $56,180 you keep $47,321 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,715 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $55,470.
- South Dakota ranks 49 of 50 for occupational therapy assistants, with a median of $56,180 — about 22.3% 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.
- Occupational therapy assistants ranks 209 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 $47,321 after the full tax stack, from $56,180. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,715 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $55,470 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Occupational Therapy Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,800 |
| This salary | $56,180 |
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 | $47,321 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,321 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,019 |
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 | $56,180 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,070 |
| 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 $56,180. The published range is $40,110 up to $72,800, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $47,321, worked from $56,180. 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 209 of 457.
- Two cautions on $53,715, the adjusted value of that $56,180 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 209 of 457 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for occupational therapy assistants in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,110 to $72,800. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The South Dakota take-home of $47,321, on $56,180 for work ranking 209 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 209 of 457 in the state.
- This $53,715 adjusted figure, worked from $56,180, 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 209 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 209 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $40,110 and the top tenth $72,800, so most people doing this work in South Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $53,715 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $47,321 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?
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 ($40,110 to $72,800) 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 $53,715 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 $47,321 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.