Photographers in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,603
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$6,727
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,819
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
$45,330
Kept after tax
$38,603
Worth in national money
$43,819
State rank
19
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota sits in the middle of the pack for photographers. The median is $45,330, ranking 19 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 322 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 $45,330 you keep $38,603 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,819 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $43,740.
- South Dakota occupies the middle band for photographers: a median of $45,330, ranking 19 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Photographers ranks 322 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 $38,603 after the full tax stack, from $45,330. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,819 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $43,740 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Photographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,750 |
| This salary | $45,330 |
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 | $38,603 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,603 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,094 |
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 | $45,330 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,952 |
| 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 $45,330. The published range is $31,150 up to $54,750, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $38,603 take-home in South Dakota comes from $45,330. 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 322 of 457.
- Two cautions on $43,819, the adjusted value of that $45,330 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 322 of 457 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for photographers in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,150 to $54,750. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $38,603, from $45,330, 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 322 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 49 for it.
- This $43,819 adjusted figure, worked from $45,330, 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 322 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 322 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $43,740, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,150 at the tenth percentile, $54,750 at the ninetieth.
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 $43,819 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $38,603 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 49 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 $43,740. 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 ($31,150 to $54,750) 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 $43,819 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 $38,603 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.