Paralegals and Legal Assistants in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,040
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$9,280
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,667
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
$58,320
Kept after tax
$49,040
Worth in national money
$55,667
State rank
38
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 $58,320, 38 of 51 states and about 7.27% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 196 of 457 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $58,320 the take-home is $49,040; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $55,667 would nationally. The average comes to $62,260, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- South Dakota's $58,320 median for paralegals and legal assistants places it 38 of 51 states, about 7.27% 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.
- Paralegals and legal assistants ranks 196 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.
- Post-tax income for paralegals and legal assistants in South Dakota, on $58,320, is $49,040 — equivalent to $55,667 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 $62,260 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Paralegals and Legal Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,090 |
| This salary | $58,320 |
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 | $49,040 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,040 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,202 |
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 | $58,320 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,291 |
| 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 $58,320. The published range is $48,890 up to $84,090, 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 $49,040, worked from $58,320. 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 196 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 $55,667, the adjusted value of that $58,320 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 196 of 457 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for paralegals and legal assistants in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,890 to $84,090. 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 $49,040, on $58,320 for work ranking 196 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 196 of 457 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $55,667 — the adjusted value of that $58,320 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 196 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 $62,260, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $48,890 at the bottom tenth to $84,090 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $55,667.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $49,040 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?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $62,260. 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 ($48,890 to $84,090) 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 $55,667 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 $49,040 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.