Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,123
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$10,767
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,572
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
$65,890
Kept after tax
$55,123
Worth in national money
$62,572
State rank
39
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota is among the lower-paying states for zoologists and wildlife biologists. The middle earner takes $65,890, ranking 39 of 47 states — about 14.18% 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: 139 of 457 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $65,890 the take-home is $55,123; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $62,572 would nationally. The average comes to $69,120, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- South Dakota ranks 39 of 47 for zoologists and wildlife biologists, with a median of $65,890 — about 14.18% 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.
- Zoologists and wildlife biologists ranks 139 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.
- Post-tax income for zoologists and wildlife biologists in South Dakota, on $65,890, is $55,123 — equivalent to $62,572 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $69,120 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $53,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $87,640 |
| This salary | $65,890 |
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 | $55,123 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,123 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,847 |
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 | $65,890 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,989 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $65,890 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $53,410 and the ninetieth is $87,640 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind South Dakota's $55,123, worked from $65,890. 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 139 of 457.
- Two cautions on $62,572, the adjusted value of that $65,890 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of South Dakota. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 139 of 457 locally.
- The South Dakota median of $65,890 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $53,410 to $87,640. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The South Dakota take-home of $55,123, on $65,890 for work ranking 139 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 139 of 457 in the state.
- This $62,572 adjusted figure, worked from $65,890, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 139 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 139 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 $69,120, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $53,410 and the top tenth $87,640, so most people doing this work in South Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $62,572 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $55,123 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?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 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 $69,120. 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 ($53,410 to $87,640) 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 $62,572 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 $55,123 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.