Sewing Machine Operators in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,517
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$5,484
14.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,046
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
$39,000
Kept after tax
$33,517
Worth in national money
$38,046
State rank
13
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for sewing machine operators is strong here. South Dakota's middle earner gets $39,000, putting the state 13 of 50 — about 6.35% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 457 occupations South Dakota publishes, sewing machine operators lands at 383. 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 $39,000 you keep $33,517 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $38,046 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $38,630.
- For sewing machine operators, South Dakota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $39,000, ranking 13 of 50 and running about 6.35% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within South Dakota, this work ranks 383 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 $33,517 after the full tax stack, from $39,000. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $38,046 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,630 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Sewing Machine Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,030 |
| This salary | $39,000 |
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 | $33,517 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,517 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,555 |
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 | $39,000 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,299 |
| 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 $39,000. The published range is $28,350 up to $47,030, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In South Dakota the take-home figure of $33,517, from $39,000, 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 383 of 457 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of South Dakota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,046, the adjusted value of that $39,000 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 383 of 457 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for sewing machine operators in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,350 to $47,030. 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 $33,517 from $39,000. 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 383 of 457 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Dakota, so $38,046 — the adjusted value of that $39,000 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 383 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,350 at the tenth percentile, $47,030 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $38,046.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $33,517 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 ($28,350 to $47,030) 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 $38,046 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 $33,517 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.