School Bus Monitors in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,804
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$4,576
13.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,832
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
$34,380
Kept after tax
$29,804
Worth in national money
$33,832
State rank
27
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. South Dakota pays school bus monitors around $34,380 at the midpoint, 27 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 457 occupations South Dakota publishes, school bus monitors lands at 424. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $34,380 you keep $29,804 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,832 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $34,330.
- For school bus monitors the South Dakota median is $34,380, ranking 27 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within South Dakota, this work ranks 424 of 457 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $29,804 after the full tax stack, from $34,380. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,832 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $34,330 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: School Bus Monitors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $35,650 |
| This salary | $34,380 |
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 | $29,804 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,804 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,161 |
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 | $34,380 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,823 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of school bus monitors in South Dakota earn under $34,380 and half over. The published range runs $32,820 at the tenth percentile to $35,650 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $29,804 take-home in South Dakota comes from $34,380. 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 424 of 457.
- Two cautions on $33,832, the adjusted value of that $34,380 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 424 of 457 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for school bus monitors in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,820 to $35,650; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $29,804, from $34,380, 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 424 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 50 for it.
- This $33,832 adjusted figure, worked from $34,380, 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 424 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 424 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,820 at the bottom tenth to $35,650 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 $33,832 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $29,804 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?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,820 to $35,650) 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 $33,832 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 $29,804 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.