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

After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 88.1 for South Dakota), the real-wage equivalent is $53,909 — what the $47,520 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $47,170 to $61,702.

How are South Dakota Firefighter 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.

How many Firefighters does South Dakota employ?

BLS OES counts 540 Firefighters employed in South Dakota in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.

Is South Dakota a 'real-wage arbitrage' state for Firefighters?

Yes — the BEA RPP of 88.1 is below the national 100 baseline, so nominal $47,520 stretches to a real-wage equivalent of $53,909. The take-home advantage versus a higher-RPP state is meaningful for Firefighters comparing offers across regions.

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.

How does the 24/48 shift schedule distort BLS firefighter pay in South Dakota?

Most career firefighters in South Dakota work a 24-hours-on, 48-hours-off rotation totaling roughly 56 hours per week — substantially more than the 40-hour assumption underlying many salary comparisons. BLS OEWS reports annual W-2 wages, which include the structurally elevated base from the longer schedule plus FLSA-mandated overtime above 53 hours/week. The headline number understates intensity: per-shift effective compensation looks high; per-hour-of-life-spent-at-the-station it's closer to a typical municipal worker's rate.

Paramedic dual-certification premium for South Dakota firefighters?

Most South Dakota fire departments respond to far more EMS calls than fire calls — roughly 70-80% medical response is typical. Departments add a paramedic-cert premium of 5-15% above firefighter base, reflecting the labor-market scarcity of cross-trained personnel. BLS aggregates all firefighters under SOC 33-2011 regardless of EMT/paramedic status; the actual South Dakota median for paramedic-certified firefighters runs above the BLS figure shown on this page, while EMT-only firefighters cluster at or below it.

South Dakota Firefighter Salary: BLS $48K Median, Real $54K (2026)

TL;DR

$47,520 is the BLS median wage for Firefighters in South Dakota; $53,909 is the BEA-adjusted purchasing-power equivalent.
State ranks #34 nationally on nominal wage, #30 on real (RPP-adjusted) wage.
After the cost-of-living adjustment, take-home rises by $6,389 versus the BLS median — purchasing-power arbitrage.
Bottom quartile $41,580, top quartile $54,390. The P90 ($62,140) is roughly 1.7× the P10 ($35,650).

Wage breakdown — South Dakota

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$35,650	$40,443
P25 (lower quartile)	$41,580	$47,170
P50 (median)	$47,520	$53,909
P75 (upper quartile)	$54,390	$61,702
P90 (top tier)	$62,140	$70,494
Mean	$48,500	$55,020
Employment	540 Firefighters 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 (Firefighter)	$47,520	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$3,564	7.5% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	$0	no state income tax
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$3,635	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$40,320	84.8% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$45,741	÷ (88.1 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

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

South Dakota levies no state income tax on wages, which is worth roughly $2,376 a year for a Firefighter at the BLS median compared with the national-average state burden (≈5%). After the favorable cost of living, real take-home is $45,741 — 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 $59,530 for Firefighters with mean pay of $63,890 and total employment of 332,240. South Dakota sits at #34 on nominal pay and #30 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, South Dakota climbs 4 positions — the cost of living is favorable relative to the wage.

Frequently asked questions

What is the real (cost-adjusted) Firefighter salary in South Dakota?: After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 88.1 for South Dakota), the real-wage equivalent is $53,909 — what the $47,520 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $47,170 to $61,702.
How are South Dakota Firefighter 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.
How many Firefighters does South Dakota employ?: BLS OES counts 540 Firefighters employed in South Dakota in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.
Is South Dakota a 'real-wage arbitrage' state for Firefighters?: Yes — the BEA RPP of 88.1 is below the national 100 baseline, so nominal $47,520 stretches to a real-wage equivalent of $53,909. The take-home advantage versus a higher-RPP state is meaningful for Firefighters comparing offers across regions.
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.
How does the 24/48 shift schedule distort BLS firefighter pay in South Dakota?: Most career firefighters in South Dakota work a 24-hours-on, 48-hours-off rotation totaling roughly 56 hours per week — substantially more than the 40-hour assumption underlying many salary comparisons. BLS OEWS reports annual W-2 wages, which include the structurally elevated base from the longer schedule plus FLSA-mandated overtime above 53 hours/week. The headline number understates intensity: per-shift effective compensation looks high; per-hour-of-life-spent-at-the-station it's closer to a typical municipal worker's rate.
Paramedic dual-certification premium for South Dakota firefighters?: Most South Dakota fire departments respond to far more EMS calls than fire calls — roughly 70-80% medical response is typical. Departments add a paramedic-cert premium of 5-15% above firefighter base, reflecting the labor-market scarcity of cross-trained personnel. BLS aggregates all firefighters under SOC 33-2011 regardless of EMT/paramedic status; the actual South Dakota median for paramedic-certified firefighters runs above the BLS figure shown on this page, while EMT-only firefighters cluster at or below it.

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 33-2011, 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 2026-05-05.

Cross-comparison: see how South Dakota Firefighter 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.