How to transfer your Bus driver licence to South Dakota (2026)

Bus driver work in South Dakota is licensed at state level, by the South Dakota driver licence agency. South Dakota gives new residents 30 days to transfer a driver's licence, including a CDL. This page says what a bus driver licensed or working in another state has to do to work in South Dakota, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

A bus driver's CDL with passenger (P) and school bus (S) endorsements transfers like any CDL, within 30 days of residency, at a South Dakota driver licence office. The school bus endorsement needs a fresh background check in South Dakota, and school districts and transit agencies add their own training and testing on hire.

How long: same day for the licence; a district background check adds weeks. Fee: $30 to $150; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• Current CDL with P and S endorsements
• DOT medical certificate
• Driving record

Start the paperwork before you give notice. Every week the licence is not done is a week you are not paid, and nothing in the process needs you to be in South Dakota already.

What people get wrong

• Assuming the S endorsement carries without a new background check
• Underestimating the district's own training requirement

Who hires bus drivers in South Dakota

Bus drivers in South Dakota are hired by school districts, transit agencies, charter companies and contractors like First Student. The metros with the most of that work are Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Aberdeen. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the South Dakota openings page.

For the money side: the median bus driver in South Dakota earned $40,470 a year ($19 an hour) in May 2024 across 310 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and South Dakota has no state income tax on wages. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about South Dakota, on one page

The South Dakota page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of South Dakota employers hiring from out of state.