Painters, Construction and Maintenance in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,877
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$7,283
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,401
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
$48,160
Kept after tax
$40,877
Worth in national money
$46,401
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. South Dakota pays painters, construction and maintenance around $48,160 at the midpoint, 31 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Painters, construction and maintenance ranks 283 among 457 occupations South Dakota publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,160 you keep $40,877 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $46,401 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $47,710.
- For painters, construction and maintenance the South Dakota median is $48,160, ranking 31 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 283 of 457 in South Dakota places painters, construction and maintenance 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.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $40,877 after the full tax stack, from $48,160. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $46,401 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $47,710 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Painters, Construction and Maintenance
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,560 |
| This salary | $48,160 |
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 | $40,877 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,877 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,336 |
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 | $48,160 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,244 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,160 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,900 and the ninetieth is $59,560 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $40,877 take-home in South Dakota comes from $48,160. 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 283 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 $46,401, the adjusted value of that $48,160 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 283 of 457 in the state.
- The South Dakota median of $48,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,900 to $59,560. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $40,877, from $48,160, 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 283 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $46,401 — the adjusted value of that $48,160 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 283 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,900 at the bottom tenth to $59,560 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $46,401 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $40,877 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?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,900 to $59,560) 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 $46,401 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 $40,877 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.