Rehabilitation Counselors in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,833
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$7,517
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,486
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
$49,350
Kept after tax
$41,833
Worth in national money
$47,486
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. South Dakota pays rehabilitation counselors a middle wage of $49,350, ranking 17 of 51 states and sitting about 5.34% above the national middle.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 264 of 457 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,350 you keep $41,833, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $47,486 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $54,400, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota's median for rehabilitation counselors is $49,350, about 5.34% above the national figure and 17 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Rehabilitation counselors ranks 264 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.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for rehabilitation counselors on $49,350 is $41,833. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $47,486 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $54,400 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Rehabilitation Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,680 |
| This salary | $49,350 |
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 | $41,833 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,833 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,437 |
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 | $49,350 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,366 |
| 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 $49,350. The published range is $41,190 up to $76,680, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $41,833 take-home in South Dakota comes from $49,350. 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 264 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 $47,486, the adjusted value of that $49,350 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 264 of 457 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for rehabilitation counselors in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $41,190 to $76,680. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $41,833, from $49,350, 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 264 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $47,486 — the adjusted value of that $49,350 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 264 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 $54,400, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $41,190 at the bottom tenth to $76,680 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. South Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $47,486 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $41,833 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?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $54,400. 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 ($41,190 to $76,680) 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 $47,486 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 $41,833 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.