School Psychologists in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,963
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$14,407
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,607
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
$78,370
Kept after tax
$63,963
Worth in national money
$72,607
State rank
33
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota sits in the middle of the pack for school psychologists. The median is $78,370, ranking 33 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 457 occupations South Dakota reports, school psychologists comes in at 89 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $78,370 you keep $63,963 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $72,607 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $83,490, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Dakota occupies the middle band for school psychologists: a median of $78,370, ranking 33 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- School psychologists ranks 89 of 457 occupations by median in South Dakota, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $63,963 after the full tax stack, from $78,370. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $72,607 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $83,490 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: School Psychologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,310 |
| This salary | $78,370 |
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 | $63,963 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,963 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,784 |
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 | $78,370 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,371 |
| 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 $78,370. The published range is $65,930 up to $127,310, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $63,963, from $78,370, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 89 of 457 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $72,607, the adjusted value of that $78,370 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 89 of 457 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for school psychologists in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $65,930 to $127,310. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for South Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,963 from $78,370. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 89 of 457 locally.
- This $72,607 adjusted figure, worked from $78,370, 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 89 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 89 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 $83,490 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 $65,930 at the bottom tenth to $127,310 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $72,607 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $63,963 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 $83,490. 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 ($65,930) and the ninetieth ($127,310) 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 $72,607 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 $63,963 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.