Veterinary Assistant Salary in South Dakota

South Dakota sits below the national figures at every published percentile, but not by the same margin.

The 10th percentile, $28,390, is 6% below the national $30,120 — the closest any point in the state distribution comes to the national one.

The gap widens to 18% at the 25th percentile, then the median, $34,700, is 9% below the national $38,150.

Beyond the middle it widens again: the 75th percentile, $36,100, is 21% below the national $45,710, and the 90th, $36,700, is 25% below the national $49,150 — the widest shortfall of the five.

Someone holding a South Dakota offer against national figures would find the national median overstates it by $3,450.

Half of the South Dakota workers counted earned between $29,320 and $36,100, a band $6,780 wide, against a national band of $10,050.

The full 10th-to-90th span is $8,310, against $19,030 nationally — smaller than the national middle band alone.

Inside that narrow band the median sits high: $5,380 above the 25th percentile and only $1,400 below the 75th.

Nationally the pattern runs the other way, with the median $2,490 above the 25th and $7,560 below the 75th.

The top of the state range is nearly flat, with the 90th percentile 2% above the 75th, against 8% nationally.

OEWS does not publish why a distribution has this shape, so this page does not assign it a cause.

The hourly median in South Dakota is $16.68, against $18.34 nationally — $1.66 less, the same 9% gap as the annual median.

The data set carries hourly pay at the median only, so it is the one figure to hold an hourly posting against.

For the rest of the range, ask how many hours a week the role is scheduled before comparing a posted rate with the annual percentiles.

BLS estimates 250 people were employed in this combined occupation in South Dakota, 47th among the jurisdictions that publish an employment figure.

That count includes laboratory animal caretakers as well as veterinary assistants, in a split BLS does not publish.

With an estimate this small, each percentile moves with relatively few workers, so read the figures as a broad picture rather than precise cutoffs.

It is a headcount of people in jobs during the survey period — not a count of openings, and not a measure of how quickly positions are filled.

In the same release, South Dakota's veterinary technologists and technicians have a median of $45,300, which is $10,600, or 31%, above the median for this occupation.

Read that as the distance between two BLS occupations in one state, not as a raise any one person should expect: the two rows count different groups of workers.