Medical Assistants Average Salary in South Dakota
$42,170 average · $42,170 median · BLS OEWS 2025
SOC Code: 31-9092What is this?
This page shows employer-reported wages for Medical Assistants in South Dakota, drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey — median and mean pay, the full percentile distribution, and the industries that employ this occupation locally. Setting is the main internal lever: hospital-employed support staff earn more than those in nursing facilities or home health, with the gap often 20-30% for equivalent work. Certifications (CNA, CMA, phlebotomy) provide small but real increments. Because the distribution is compressed, the larger pay moves available to workers in this group are upward into the practitioner pipeline rather than sideways within support roles.
How much do Medical Assistants make in South Dakota?
The average medical assistants salary in South Dakota is $42,170 per year. That works out to about $20.27 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 1,340 medical assistants jobs in South Dakota.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $42,170. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $42,170; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $42,170 — a 0% spread from bottom to top. Figures are employer-reported wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — not self-reported survey averages — so they are the right baseline for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
How Healthcare Support Careers Are Structured
Healthcare support occupations — aides, assistants, technicians — are among the fastest-growing jobs in America by sheer headcount, driven by the same demographics as the practitioner group but without the licensure barriers that lift wages there. The result is high demand and modest pay, with the wage distribution compressed into a narrow band.
The wage tables and percentile chart on this page show how medical assistants pay is distributed in South Dakota specifically — and because state-level wages for the same occupation routinely differ by 30% or more, the local figures here are the ones that matter for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
What Moves Pay in This Field
Setting is the main internal lever: hospital-employed support staff earn more than those in nursing facilities or home health, with the gap often 20-30% for equivalent work. Certifications (CNA, CMA, phlebotomy) provide small but real increments. Because the distribution is compressed, the larger pay moves available to workers in this group are upward into the practitioner pipeline rather than sideways within support roles.
Entry is fast — weeks to months of training for many roles — which makes these occupations common first steps into healthcare. The strategic value of these jobs is partly their option value: employers frequently fund the next credential (CNA to LPN to RN), turning a modest-wage job into a subsidized path toward the much stronger practitioner distribution.
New to reading wage distributions? Our guide to salary percentiles explains how to place yourself on the chart above, and the negotiation playbook shows how to use these numbers in an actual conversation.
What Do Medical Assistants Do?
Medical Assistants positions belong to the healthcare support field. Healthcare support occupations — aides, assistants, technicians — are among the fastest-growing jobs in America by sheer headcount, driven by the same demographics as the practitioner group but without the licensure barriers that lift wages there. The result is high demand and modest pay, with the wage distribution compressed into a narrow band.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code: 31-9092
Medical Assistants pay in South Dakota
In South Dakota, medical assistants report a median of $42,170 (about $20.27/hour) across roughly 1,340 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $42,170 at the 10th percentile to $42,170 at the 90th.
Compared with the national distribution, local industry mix and cost of living are the main reasons South Dakota wages for this occupation sit where they do — toggle Regional Price Parity on this page to see purchasing-power-adjusted pay.
What your paycheck is really worth in South Dakota
Prices in South Dakota run 11% below the national average (RPP 88.6). So a nominal salary of $42,170 has the buying power of about $47,603 in national terms.
South Dakota vs. United States for Medical Assistants
The median medical assistants salary in South Dakota is $42,170, which is -8.4% below the national median of $46,020 (mean pay is -8.7% below the U.S. mean of $46,169). Among 51 states and D.C. with OEWS data, South Dakota ranks #38 by median wage for this occupation. South Dakota accounts for about 0.0% of U.S. medical assistants employment in the latest OEWS release.
See every state ranked for this occupation on the best-paying states page, or compare purchasing power on real wages.
Income reality check
The median salary for Medical Assistants in South Dakota of $42,170 falls in the Stably paid band of this framework - roughly ~12% of the U.S. population and ~15% of the global population sit in this band.
Illustrative relative standing for education only - this ladder is a simplified framework, not an official Census, BLS, or World Bank statistical series. Salary figures on Wage Atlas come from official BLS OEWS data.
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Occupation Report Card
Top Industries for Medical Assistants
| $48,158 | $46,933 | $23 | 544,950 | |
| $48,140 | $47,110 | $23 | 37,600 | |
| $46,000 | $45,620 | $22 | 773,550 | |
| $45,583 | $45,147 | $22 | 1,242,550 |
Related Occupations
SOC: 15-1232 • 89% match | $67,048 | $66,990 | $32 | 3,961,410 |
SOC: 27-2022 • 94% match | $59,518 | $58,230 | $29 | 1,659,020 |
SOC: 31-9091 • 90% match | $50,226 | $50,080 | $24 | 1,958,470 |
SOC: 53-3051 • 86% match | $47,680 | $45,880 | $23 | 2,660,290 |
| Find Occupation 53 3051 Jobs | ||||
SOC: 25-2011 • 94% match | $44,408 | $40,180 | $21 | 2,638,630 |
SOC: 33-9032 • 85% match | $42,595 | $42,070 | $20 | 7,593,360 |
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Medical Assistants in Other States
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