Truck Driver Pay in South Dakota (2026)

Key numbers at a glance

Truck driver pay in South Dakota: the numbers

The benchmark here is the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, May 2025 release. It counts roughly 6,470 driver jobs statewide — about 14.2 of every 1,000 jobs in South Dakota, a trucking-heavy mix for a state with just under a million residents. Annual figures assume 2,080 hours, so read them as full-time equivalents rather than guarantees.

Two details stand out. First, the median ($58,690) sits slightly above the mean ($58,550) and essentially on top of the national median — unusual for a low-cost state, and a sign that South Dakota's wage distribution lacks the ultra-low tail some Southern markets show. The 10th percentile of $41,590 is about $1,450 above the national 10th percentile of $40,140. Second, the ceiling is compressed: $78,610 at the 90th percentile trails the national $79,380, because the state has little port drayage, hazmat petrochemical or high-cost-metro work that inflates top-end wages elsewhere. Per-mile pay is the dominant structure for the OTR and regional grain fleets; hourly arrangements are more common for local Sioux Falls and Rapid City distribution work, though BLS does not track CPM and carrier offers vary — confirm specifics with the carrier.

How miles and freight shape pay in South Dakota

South Dakota freight is corridor freight. I-90 crosses the entire state as the main Chicago-to-Seattle transcontinental lane, and I-29 runs the eastern edge connecting Sioux Falls to Minneapolis, Omaha and the Canadian border gateways beyond Fargo. Around those two axes sits classic Plains freight: grain and ethanol co-products from the eastern corn country, cattle and feeder livestock from west-river ranch country, aggregate and construction materials, and a growing retail and light-manufacturing distribution cluster around Sioux Falls. The work splits, roughly speaking, into three structures: regional dry van and reefer loops running to Minneapolis, Omaha and Chicago (CPM plus stop pay), long-haul I-90 transcon freight often hauled by drivers based anywhere in the Midwest, and specialized agricultural hauling — hoppers, livestock — where pay typically reflects loading skill and seasonality rather than raw miles.

The practical caveats are distance and season. Deadhead runs long here — a truck that delivers to a small prairie town may reposition 100+ miles for the next load, so owner-operators should push every offer through the load profit calculator before accepting, and know their true cost per mile on the empty legs. Winter narrows everything: I-90 closures and blizzard days can idle a week, and livestock haulers face the tightest weather math of all. On the other side of the ledger, congestion is nearly nonexistent and highway speeds are high, so productive miles come easy when the weather cooperates. For more state-by-state comparisons, see the truck driver pay by state hub.

The tax angle in South Dakota

South Dakota levies no state individual income tax on wages — none — per the South Dakota Department of Revenue. A driver earning the $58,550 state mean keeps roughly the same share as a colleague making identical money in Texas or Wyoming, and about $2,300–$3,300 more per year than one in a 4%–5.5% flat-tax state, before credits. That is real money on a driver's budget, and it partially offsets the below-national mean wage — a $58,550 paycheck in a no-tax, low-cost state often outlives a $63,000 paycheck taxed in a metro market. Owner-operators still owe federal income tax and self-employment tax, and route through their base state; for deduction basics that apply everywhere, see the trucking tax deductions guide.