Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,982
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$7,798
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,790
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
$50,780
Kept after tax
$42,982
Worth in national money
$48,790
State rank
23
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. South Dakota pays this job around $50,780 at the midpoint, 23 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 246 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 $50,780 you keep $42,982, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $48,790 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $50,950, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders the South Dakota median is $50,780, ranking 23 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.
- Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 246 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 separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders on $50,780 is $42,982. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $48,790 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 $50,950 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,980 |
| This salary | $50,780 |
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 | $42,982 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,982 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,559 |
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 | $50,780 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,514 |
| 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 $50,780. The published range is $38,390 up to $60,980, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $42,982 take-home in South Dakota comes from $50,780. 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 246 of 457.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,790 uses one figure for the whole of South Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 457 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 246.
- Reported values are medians; for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,390 to $60,980. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $42,982, from $50,780, 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 246 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,790, worked from $50,780, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular South Dakota address, on work sitting at 246 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,390 at the bottom tenth to $60,980 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 $48,790 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $42,982 of this wage reaches your account, because South Dakota takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,390 to $60,980) 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 $48,790 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 $42,982 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.