Tour and Travel Guides in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,383
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$4,717
13.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,489
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
$35,100
Kept after tax
$30,383
Worth in national money
$34,489
State rank
31
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota sits in the middle of the pack for tour and travel guides. The median is $35,100, ranking 31 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in South Dakota, this one sits low: 420 of 457 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $35,100 you keep $30,383 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,489 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $37,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- South Dakota occupies the middle band for tour and travel guides: a median of $35,100, ranking 31 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Tour and travel guides occupies position 420 of 457 in South Dakota's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in South Dakota is $30,383 after the full tax stack, from $35,100. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,489 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $37,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Tour and Travel Guides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,080 |
| This salary | $35,100 |
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 | $30,383 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,383 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,223 |
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 | $35,100 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,897 |
| 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 $35,100. The published range is $29,780 up to $46,080, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $30,383, worked from $35,100. 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 420 of 457.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,489 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 420.
- Reported values are medians; for tour and travel guides in South Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,780 to $46,080. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The South Dakota take-home of $30,383, on $35,100 for work ranking 420 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 420 of 457 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,489, worked from $35,100, 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 420 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 $37,640 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,780 at the tenth percentile, $46,080 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in South Dakota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,489 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $30,383 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?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $37,640. 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 ($29,780 to $46,080) 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 $34,489 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 $30,383 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.