Social Science Research Assistants in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,193
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$6,627
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,354
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
$44,820
Kept after tax
$38,193
Worth in national money
$43,354
State rank
43
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota is among the lower-paying states for social science research assistants. The middle earner takes $44,820, ranking 43 of 45 states — about 27.7% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in South Dakota, this sits in the middle: 334 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 $44,820 you keep $38,193, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $43,354 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $41,910, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- South Dakota ranks 43 of 45 for social science research assistants, with a median of $44,820 — about 27.7% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Social science research assistants ranks 334 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 social science research assistants on $44,820 is $38,193. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $43,354 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 $41,910 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Social Science Research Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,260 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,670 |
| This salary | $44,820 |
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 | $38,193 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,193 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,051 |
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 | $44,820 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,899 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $44,820 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,260 and the ninetieth is $50,670 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $38,193 take-home in South Dakota comes from $44,820. 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 334 of 457.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,354 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 334.
- The South Dakota median of $44,820 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,260 to $50,670. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $38,193, from $44,820, 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 334 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 45 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,354, worked from $44,820, 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 334 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 $41,910 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $28,260 and the top tenth $50,670, so most people doing this work in South Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $43,354.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $38,193 survives, because South Dakota levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $41,910. 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 ($28,260 to $50,670) 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 $43,354 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 $38,193 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.