Chef pay in South Dakota after taxes: what you keep (2026)

The median cook in South Dakota earned $35,150 a year in May 2024, which is $17 an hour for a full-time year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Half of the 1,880 cooks the BLS counts in South Dakota earned more than that and half earned less; the middle half of them sat between $31,010 and $37,090. That is the gross figure, before anyone takes anything. What you keep depends on South Dakota's tax, and South Dakota has no state income tax on wages.

What the median cook keeps in South Dakota

For a single filer on the median $35,150, taking the standard deduction and no other adjustments:

South Dakota takes nothing from wages, so the only deductions are federal. That is worth $1,758 a year against a state with a flat 5% tax on the same salary. Health insurance, retirement contributions and local taxes are not in it either; they vary by employer and by city.

Where South Dakota ranks for cook pay

Of the 50 states, South Dakota ranks 36 of 50 on the gross median for cooks. The highest-paying state is Massachusetts at $46,280 and the lowest is West Virginia at $28,560. Gross rank is not take-home rank: a state with no income tax climbs several places once the state line is applied, and a high-tax state drops.

Across the border

The same job in the states next to South Dakota, gross median and estimated take-home for a single filer:

Wyoming and North Dakota leave a cook with more at the end of the year than South Dakota does. Nebraska, Minnesota, Montana and Iowa pay less once tax is counted. Pay is one line; rent is the other, and a higher median in a metro with higher rent can leave you with less.

Where the cook jobs are in South Dakota

The BLS count of 1,880 cooks is statewide. The metros with the most of that work are Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Aberdeen, which is where the median is set and where the upper quartile ($37,090 and above) is most often paid. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are listed on the South Dakota openings page; those filings are the ones already paying to bring people in, and housing or transport is often part of the offer.

What people get wrong about cook pay in South Dakota

• Quoting the mean. The BLS mean for South Dakota is $17 an hour, pulled up by the top earners. The median ($17) is what the typical cook makes.
• Comparing gross across states. South Dakota's zero state tax means its gross understates it against taxed states.
• Forgetting the employer's share of insurance. A job that pays $33,150 with full health coverage can beat one that pays $38,150 without it.
• Treating the statewide median as the metro median. Sioux Falls pays differently from a rural county; ask for the figure for the place you are actually going.

Everything about South Dakota, on one page

The South Dakota page has the licence registries and boards, the state tax at three salaries, the programs that pay you to come, and the openings filed in South Dakota 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.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 state estimates for Chef. Tax lines are a single filer with the standard deduction, 2024 federal brackets, and the state rate in lib/us-states.ts; progressive states are approximated. Not tax advice.