Producers and Directors in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,599
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$9,661
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,437
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
$60,260
Kept after tax
$50,599
Worth in national money
$57,437
State rank
38
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for producers and directors is on the low side in South Dakota. The middle earner gets $60,260. That is 38 of 50 states, and about 33.31% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Producers and directors ranks 183 among 457 occupations South Dakota publishes pay for.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $60,260 the take-home is $50,599; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $57,437 would nationally. The average comes to $65,090, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For producers and directors, South Dakota sits in the lower band at $60,260, ranking 38 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 33.31%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 183 of 457 in South Dakota places producers and directors 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.
- Post-tax income for producers and directors in South Dakota, on $60,260, is $50,599 — equivalent to $57,437 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 $65,090 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Producers and Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,180 |
| This salary | $60,260 |
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 | $50,599 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,599 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,367 |
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 | $60,260 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,526 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $60,260 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,140 and the ninetieth is $109,180 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $50,599 take-home in South Dakota comes from $60,260. 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 183 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 $57,437, the adjusted value of that $60,260 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 183 of 457 in the state.
- The South Dakota median of $60,260 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,140 to $109,180. 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 $50,599, from $60,260, 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 183 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $57,437 — the adjusted value of that $60,260 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 183 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $65,090 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $38,140 at the bottom tenth to $109,180 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $57,437.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $50,599 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.
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 $65,090. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($38,140) and the ninetieth ($109,180) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $57,437 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 $50,599 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.