Postmasters and Mail Superintendents in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$73,228
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$18,312
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$83,124
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
$91,540
Kept after tax
$73,228
Worth in national money
$83,124
State rank
43
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in South Dakota. The middle earner gets $91,540. That is 43 of 50 states, and about 5.3% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in South Dakota. It ranks 54 out of 457 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $91,540 you keep $73,228 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $83,124 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $91,960, since top earners drag the number up.
- For postmasters and mail superintendents, South Dakota sits in the lower band at $91,540, ranking 43 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 5.3%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within South Dakota, postmasters and mail superintendents ranks 54 of 457 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $73,228 after the full tax stack, from $91,540. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $83,124 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $91,960 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Postmasters and Mail Superintendents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $71,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $91,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $107,720 |
| This salary | $91,540 |
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 | $73,228 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $73,228 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$7,767 |
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 | $91,540 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$10,729 |
| 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 $91,540. The published range is $71,720 up to $107,720, 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 $73,228, worked from $91,540. 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 54 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 $83,124, the adjusted value of that $91,540 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 54 of 457 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for postmasters and mail superintendents in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $71,720 to $107,720. 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 $73,228, on $91,540 for work ranking 54 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 54 of 457 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $83,124 — the adjusted value of that $91,540 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 54 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $71,720 at the tenth percentile, $107,720 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 $83,124 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $73,228 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.
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 ($71,720 to $107,720) 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 $83,124 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 $73,228 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.