Prices, pay, taxes, homes and family budgets, county by county, from the same official data the site's calculators use.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures price levels in every state against a national average of 100. South Dakota scores 88.6 overall, so a $75,000 salary at average US prices buys what $66,440 buys here. Compare any salary with another state.
| Price level | South Dakota (US = 100) | Rank, most expensive first |
|---|---|---|
| Everything | 88.6 | 46th of 51 |
| Rents | 67.6 | 43rd of 51 |
| Goods | 95.5 | — |
| Other services | 91.9 | — |
Home electricity averaged 12.86 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2024, against 17.06 across all states. A gallon of regular gas cost $4.01 at the end of August 2026, against $4.12.
Across all 457,380 jobs the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts in South Dakota, the median pay is $47,080 a year, or $22.63 an hour; that ranks 43rd of the 50 states and DC. One worker in ten earns less than $29,300 and one in ten more than $94,900.
South Dakota has no state income tax on wages. More on taxes in South Dakota. A single filer on the median $47,080, with no retirement or health deductions, takes home about $40,009 a year, or $1,539 every two weeks, after $3,470 of federal income tax, $3,602 of Social Security and Medicare. Work out your own paycheck in South Dakota.
The five occupations employing the most people, with their median annual pay:
| Occupation | Jobs | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 15,150 | $29,490 |
| Registered Nurses | 14,710 | $78,060 |
| Retail Salespersons | 14,180 | $34,370 |
| Cashiers | 12,860 | $29,780 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 11,460 | $37,650 |
Of the 20 largest occupations, the best paid are general and operations managers ($137,400), accountants and auditors ($78,880), registered nurses ($78,060). See what common jobs pay in every state.
Across the 50 South Dakota counties with their own Zillow home value, the median typical home is worth $262,556, and across the 11 with their own rent figure the median typical rent is $1,295 a month. A typical home costs 3.01 years of the county's median family income, at the median county.
With 10% down at 7.03%, the average 30-year rate on September 24, 2026, that home costs about $2,107 a month with tax, insurance and mortgage insurance, which takes $90,296 a year of income under the usual 28% guideline. The median family can afford its own county's typical home in 46.0% of South Dakota's counties, against 44.9% of counties nationally. Try it with your own income.
At the median county, home values changed +3.4% over the past year and +24.1% over five years, and rents +3.7% over the past year.
The most expensive South Dakota counties are Custer County ($509,751), Lawrence County ($454,224) and Meade County ($400,593); the least expensive are Jackson County ($130,390), Walworth County ($135,325) and Perkins County ($164,675).
The Economic Policy Institute prices what a modest but adequate standard of living costs in every county: housing, food, transport, healthcare, childcare, other necessities and taxes. In the median South Dakota county, that comes to $43,997 a year for one adult and $96,914 for two adults and two children, of which $12,726 is childcare. The national averages are $47,367 and $101,771. Median family income in the median county is $91,774.
| Two adults, two children | Per year, median county | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | $10,464 | $872 |
| Food | $12,183 | $1,015 |
| Transportation | $21,638 | $1,803 |
| Healthcare | $22,349 | $1,862 |
| Childcare | $12,726 | $1,061 |
| Other necessities | $7,125 | $594 |
| Taxes | $10,009 | $834 |
Each line is its own median across counties, so the lines do not add up exactly to the total.
The Department of Education's College Scorecard lists 24 colleges in South Dakota, 13 of them public. The median public college reports a cost of attendance of $20,714 a year, covering tuition, housing, books and other expenses. Ten years after enrolling, the median school's former students earn $46,709. Compare degrees and schools.
| Aurora County | — | — | — | $86,818 | $96,875 |
| Beadle County | $193,583 | +4.0% | — | $82,161 | $92,405 |
| Bennett County | $216,092 | +3.5% | — | $49,805 | $101,423 |
| Bon Homme County | $179,957 | +6.1% | — | $83,184 | $95,954 |
| Brookings County | $330,174 | +6.0% | $1,129 | $104,828 | $93,530 |
| Brown County | $247,062 | +6.6% | $1,073 | $97,594 | $86,652 |
| Brule County | $256,738 | +16.0% | — | $101,071 | $94,844 |
| Buffalo County | — | — | — | $53,681 | $98,645 |
| Butte County | $360,411 | +3.2% | — | $96,466 | $101,975 |
| Campbell County | $198,605 | +7.6% | — | $94,375 | $99,463 |
| Charles Mix County | $301,483 | +6.1% | — | $81,875 | $95,872 |
| Clark County | $215,661 | −0.6% | — | $77,500 | $96,409 |
| Clay County | $288,548 | +3.2% | $812 | $96,029 | $90,830 |
| Codington County | $343,509 | +2.4% | $1,205 | $85,609 | $93,806 |
| Corson County | $166,404 | +2.2% | — | $48,750 | $96,394 |
| Custer County | $509,751 | +0.5% | — | $93,986 | $102,794 |
| Davison County | $255,765 | +1.9% | $960 | $91,672 | $91,250 |
| Day County | $268,823 | +4.1% | — | $81,726 | $95,820 |
| Deuel County | $319,016 | +8.6% | — | $92,821 | $96,188 |
| Dewey County | — | — | — | $62,837 | $92,123 |
| Douglas County | — | — | — | $92,750 | $97,312 |
| Edmunds County | $226,288 | +3.3% | — | $90,602 | $97,710 |
| Fall River County | $287,612 | +1.9% | — | $76,887 | $101,361 |
| Faulk County | — | — | — | $96,615 | $97,556 |
| Grant County | $243,716 | +10.9% | — | $94,097 | $95,478 |
| Gregory County | — | — | — | $76,750 | $96,708 |
| Haakon County | — | — | — | $84,500 | $100,595 |
| Hamlin County | $351,384 | +14.4% | — | $91,875 | $96,560 |
| Hand County | $263,053 | +7.7% | — | $105,000 | $97,048 |
| Hanson County | — | — | — | $98,819 | $99,928 |
| Harding County | $262,059 | +16.1% | — | $84,853 | $97,187 |
| Hughes County | $298,283 | +5.2% | $1,398 | $94,620 | $94,972 |
| Hutchinson County | $227,355 | +9.0% | — | $101,625 | $96,206 |
| Hyde County | — | — | — | $101,563 | $97,298 |
| Jackson County | $130,390 | −4.5% | — | $37,386 | $98,258 |
| Jerauld County | $231,590 | +2.7% | — | $93,750 | $97,522 |
| Jones County | — | — | — | $85,833 | $99,075 |
| Kingsbury County | $260,187 | +5.8% | — | $94,861 | $97,842 |
| Lake County | $317,192 | +1.9% | — | $95,347 | $94,312 |
| Lawrence County | $454,224 | −1.0% | $1,415 | $88,985 | $98,228 |
| Lincoln County | $386,820 | +1.6% | $1,330 | $111,030 | $106,738 |
| Lyman County | — | — | — | $68,750 | $96,314 |
| Marshall County | $240,268 | +8.4% | — | $103,542 | $96,526 |
| McCook County | $295,674 | +5.1% | — | $96,852 | $95,100 |
| McPherson County | — | — | — | $77,024 | $95,797 |
| Meade County | $400,593 | +4.5% | $1,506 | $92,367 | $100,751 |
| Mellette County | — | — | — | $53,090 | $98,790 |
| Miner County | $204,743 | −3.2% | — | $102,083 | $97,545 |
| Minnehaha County | $330,456 | +1.2% | $1,295 | $99,922 | $97,339 |
| Moody County | $308,440 | +7.6% | — | $97,381 | $94,874 |
| Oglala Lakota County | — | — | — | $34,894 | $97,129 |
| Pennington County | $369,326 | +1.9% | $1,496 | $90,248 | $106,414 |
| Perkins County | $164,675 | −0.1% | — | $85,662 | $99,570 |
| Potter County | $223,660 | +2.4% | — | $92,829 | $96,952 |
| Roberts County | $239,625 | +11.6% | — | $79,271 | $94,966 |
| Sanborn County | $250,338 | +3.0% | — | $91,528 | $97,060 |
| Spink County | $176,037 | +10.3% | — | $94,521 | $95,473 |
| Stanley County | $312,397 | +0.8% | — | $108,636 | $97,508 |
| Sully County | $281,770 | −1.5% | — | $95,673 | $99,412 |
| Todd County | — | — | — | $39,972 | $96,467 |
| Tripp County | $205,551 | +4.7% | — | $76,224 | $96,666 |
| Turner County | $304,115 | −3.2% | — | $88,764 | $95,743 |
| Union County | $363,886 | +3.5% | — | $107,311 | $100,227 |
| Walworth County | $135,325 | +2.6% | — | $81,821 | $95,198 |
| Yankton County | $281,281 | +1.4% | — | $97,233 | $91,907 |
| Ziebach County | — | — | — | $46,719 | $96,991 |
A dash means the source publishes no figure for that county. Home values and rents are Zillow's own county figures only; counties Zillow does not cover are left blank rather than filled with a state average.
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County figures are medians across South Dakota's counties, each counting once, so they describe the spread of places rather than of people. Property tax and insurance vary widely; the calculators let you use your own.