Moving between states / South Dakota

Flag of MichiganMichigantoFlag of South DakotaSouth Dakota

Moving from Michigan to South Dakota for work

What moves with you from Michigan to South Dakota: your licence, your take-home pay, and the programs that pay people to come. Every line below is computed from the two states' rules.

What the move does to your paycheck

On a $60,000 salary South Dakota leaves you roughly $2,550 a year more than Michigan does, because South Dakota has no state income tax on wages.

SalaryMichigan state taxSouth Dakota state taxDifference a year
$40,000$1,700$0+$1,700
$60,000$2,550$0+$2,550
$90,000$3,825$0+$3,825

Rough figures for a single filer: exact in the flat-rate and no-tax states, approximated at 70% of the top bracket in the progressive ones. In Michigan: Detroit and some cities add a local income tax. Property and sales tax are not in it.

CNA: Michigan to South Dakota

Transfers by reciprocity. Your Michigan certificate stays on the Michigan Nurse Aide Registry (administered by Prometric for the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs); to work in South Dakota you apply to the South Dakota Board of Nursing, Nurse Aide Registry for reciprocity. It accepts an active certificate in good standing from another state; there is no retest if your record is clean. Most registries list you within two to six weeks.

RN and LPN: Michigan to South Dakota

Endorsement, six to twelve weeks. Michigan is not in the compact, so your Michigan licence is single-state. Apply to the South Dakota board for licensure by endorsement (Nursys verification, fingerprints, the board's fee); six to twelve weeks is normal, so start before you give notice. Because South Dakota is a compact state, ask for the new licence to be issued as a multistate licence: from then on it works in every compact state.

Electrician: Michigan to South Dakota

Reciprocity likely. South Dakota licenses electricians at state level through the South Dakota Electrical Commission, and reciprocity with a group of states for journeymen licensed by exam. Your Michigan licence comes from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Electrical Administrative Board, a state body, which is what a reciprocity application needs: ask it for a verification letter before you move.

CDL: Michigan to South Dakota

Transfers at the DMV. A commercial driver's licence transfers like any licence: within 30 days of becoming a South Dakota resident you surrender the Michigan CDL at a South Dakota driver licence office, pass the vision test, pay the fee, and your endorsements carry over. A hazmat endorsement needs a fresh TSA threat assessment in South Dakota. Your driving record follows you through the federal CDLIS system.

No statewide program in South Dakota pays people to move in. Towns sometimes list an offer through MakeMyMove, and employers in short-staffed trades pay relocation themselves; ask for it in writing before you accept.

Openings filed in South Dakota

63 open positions filed with the Department of Labor by South Dakota employers who could not fill them locally.

Your own route from Michigan to South Dakota

Tell us your trade and your licence. We write the steps for your case, check the job offer for scams, and keep your resume ready for South Dakota employers.

Plan my move to South Dakota

Same move, by trade

CNA: Michigan to South Dakota · RN or LPN: Michigan to South Dakota · Electrician: Michigan to South Dakota · Truck driver: Michigan to South Dakota

From Michigan to the states next to South Dakota

North Dakota (progressive, top rate 2.5%) · Minnesota (progressive, top rate 9.85%) · Iowa (flat 3.8% state income tax) · Nebraska (progressive, top rate 5.2%) · Wyoming (no state income tax) · Montana (progressive, top rate 5.9%)

To South Dakota from the states next to Michigan

Ohio · Indiana · Wisconsin

Everything about working in South Dakota · All moves between states · All 50 states

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