What is the real (cost-adjusted) Financial Advisor salary in South Dakota?

After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 88.1 for South Dakota), the real-wage equivalent is $139,968 — what the $123,380 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $113,728 to $231,188.

How are South Dakota Financial Advisor salaries calculated on this page?

Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.

Why is the BEA RPP for South Dakota different from a single CPI number?

BEA splits regional price parity into three components — goods, services, and rents — reweighted to the BEA's national consumption basket. South Dakota's overall index of 88.1 reflects rents 64.8, services 81.3, and goods 97.4.

Where does South Dakota rank for Financial Advisor pay?

On nominal BLS wages alone, South Dakota ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.

What are the limits of these Financial Advisor salary numbers?

BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.

Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for South Dakota?

The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within South Dakota.

When does this data update?

BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

South Dakota Financial Advisor Salary: BLS $123K Median, Real $140K (2026)

TL;DR

South Dakota pays Financial Advisors a BLS median of $123,380 — the more useful number is $139,968, what that paycheck buys after rent and services.
On a real-wage basis, this state sits at #3 of 51; nominal rank is #6.
Cost of living below the national index lifts real wage by $16,588 over the nominal — a take-home arbitrage that nominal-ranking tables miss.
Mid-band breakdown: P25 $100,250, P50 $123,380, P75 $203,790. Tail percentiles withheld by BLS — common when tech-sector wages exceed the OES survey cap.

Wage breakdown — South Dakota

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$79,410	$90,086
P25 (lower quartile)	$100,250	$113,728
P50 (median)	$123,380	$139,968
P75 (upper quartile)	$203,790	$231,188
P90 (top tier)
Mean	$174,340	$197,779
Employment	500 Financial Advisors in South Dakota

Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity

Component	South Dakota index (US = 100)
All-items RPP	88.1
Goods	97.4
Services	81.3
Rents	64.8

South Dakota sits below the national baseline (RPP 88.1), so nominal pay translates to a higher real wage than the BLS median suggests — particularly visible in rents at 64.8.

After-tax take-home — South Dakota (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)

Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median

Layer	Amount	Note
Gross BLS P50 (Financial Advisor)	$123,380	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$18,429	14.9% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	$0	no state income tax
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$9,439	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$95,512	77.4% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$108,353	÷ (88.1 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the South Dakota state-tax burden means for Financial Advisor take-home

South Dakota levies no state income tax on wages, which is worth roughly $6,169 a year for a Financial Advisor at the BLS median compared with the national-average state burden (≈5%). After the favorable cost of living, real take-home is $108,353 — higher than the nominal after-tax figure because RPP is below 100.

Computed from 2026 IRS federal brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), 2026 state DOR brackets, and 2026 FICA rates. Single filer, standard deduction, no other adjustments. See methodology · tax for limitations (married filers, ITM/SALT itemizers, retirement deferrals, HSA, dependent credits, etc.).

National context

Across the United States, BLS reports a national median of $102,140 for Financial Advisors with mean pay of $160,210 and total employment of 270,480. South Dakota sits at #6 on nominal pay and #3 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, South Dakota climbs 3 positions — the cost of living is favorable relative to the wage.

Frequently asked questions

What is the real (cost-adjusted) Financial Advisor salary in South Dakota?: After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 88.1 for South Dakota), the real-wage equivalent is $139,968 — what the $123,380 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $113,728 to $231,188.
How are South Dakota Financial Advisor salaries calculated on this page?: Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.
Why is the BEA RPP for South Dakota different from a single CPI number?: BEA splits regional price parity into three components — goods, services, and rents — reweighted to the BEA's national consumption basket. South Dakota's overall index of 88.1 reflects rents 64.8, services 81.3, and goods 97.4.
Where does South Dakota rank for Financial Advisor pay?: On nominal BLS wages alone, South Dakota ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.
What are the limits of these Financial Advisor salary numbers?: BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.
Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for South Dakota?: The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within South Dakota.
When does this data update?: BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 13-2052, 2024 reference period.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities, 2023 vintage (all-items, goods, services, rents).
Real-wage figures = nominal BLS wage ÷ (state RPP / 100).
See the methodology page for full computation details and limitations.

By Marcus Liang · Founder & Editor · Last synced 2026-05-08.

Cross-comparison: see how South Dakota Financial Advisor pay ranks against the other 254 state × occupation pages on the Real Wage Atlas → — four-way ranking by real wage, after-tax take-home, state-tax savings, and cost-of-living arbitrage.