Surveyors in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,133
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$14,057
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,665
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
$77,190
Kept after tax
$63,133
Worth in national money
$71,665
State rank
19
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. South Dakota pays surveyors around $77,190 at the midpoint, 19 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 457 occupations South Dakota reports, surveyors comes in at 95 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $77,190 you keep $63,133 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $71,665 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $86,630, since top earners drag the number up.
- For surveyors the South Dakota median is $77,190, ranking 19 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.
- Surveyors ranks 95 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 $63,133 after the full tax stack, from $77,190. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $71,665 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $86,630 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Surveyors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $122,560 |
| This salary | $77,190 |
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 | $63,133 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,133 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,696 |
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 | $77,190 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,250 |
| 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 surveyors in South Dakota earn under $77,190 and half over. The published range runs $59,690 at the tenth percentile to $122,560 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $63,133, worked from $77,190. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 95 of 457.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $71,665 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 95.
- Figures are distribution medians for surveyors in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $59,690 to $122,560; 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.
- The South Dakota take-home of $63,133, on $77,190 for work ranking 95 of 457 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 95 of 457 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $71,665, worked from $77,190, 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 95 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $86,630, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $59,690 at the bottom tenth to $122,560 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $71,665.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $63,133 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?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $86,630. 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 ($59,690) and the ninetieth ($122,560) 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 $71,665 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 $63,133 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.