Protective Service Workers, All Other in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,136
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$6,124
14.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,019
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
$42,260
Kept after tax
$36,136
Worth in national money
$41,019
State rank
37
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 $42,260, 37 of 51 states and about 0.66% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within South Dakota this is lower-paid work. Of 457 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 360. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $42,260 you keep $36,136 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $41,019 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $45,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Dakota's $42,260 median for protective service workers, all other places it 37 of 51 states, about 0.66% 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.
- Against every occupation South Dakota reports, protective service workers, all other ranks 360 of 457, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $36,136 after the full tax stack, from $42,260. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $41,019 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $45,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Protective Service Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,170 |
| This salary | $42,260 |
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 | $36,136 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,136 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,833 |
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 | $42,260 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,635 |
| 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 $42,260. The published range is $35,380 up to $65,170, 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 $36,136, worked from $42,260. 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 360 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 $41,019, the adjusted value of that $42,260 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 360 of 457 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for protective service workers, all other in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,380 to $65,170. 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 $36,136, on $42,260 for work ranking 360 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 360 of 457 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $41,019 — the adjusted value of that $42,260 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 360 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 $45,660 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $35,380 at the tenth percentile, $65,170 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 $41,019 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $36,136 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 $45,660. 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 ($35,380 to $65,170) 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 $41,019 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 $36,136 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.