- The middle half earn between $20.51 and $27.26 an hour.
- South Dakota ranks 32nd of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- South Dakota pays more than 2 of its 6 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 3,450 handymen on payrolls in South Dakota.
- At the state median wage, a handyman business needs to bill about $111.21 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Handyman pay in South Dakota, bottom to top
BLS has no separate figure for handymen. These are its numbers for general maintenance and repair workers, the closest group: people who keep buildings and equipment in repair using the skills of two or more trades. Real estate, schools and government are among the top industries BLS lists for them.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $17.95 | $37,340 | $17.00 |
| 25th percentile | $20.51 | $42,660 | $19.64 |
| Median | $23.13 | $48,100 | $23.84 |
| 75th percentile | $27.26 | $56,700 | $30.10 |
| 90th percentile | $30.16 | $62,720 | $37.11 |
| Average (mean) | $23.94 | $49,790 | $25.86 |
Pay is bunched up in South Dakota. The top tenth earn $30.16 an hour or more, about 1.7 times the $17.95 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2.2 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
The floor is higher than nationally ($17.95 against $17.00) but the ceiling is lower ($30.16 against $37.11), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average, $23.94, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How South Dakota compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $48,100 in South Dakota against $49,590 nationally, $1,490 less.
In the state ranking, South Dakota sits 32nd, between Idaho ($23.17) and North Carolina ($23.03). The range runs from $18.70 in West Virginia to $29.00 in the District of Columbia.
Against its neighboring states, South Dakota is in the middle: Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and North Dakota pay more, and Montana and Wyoming pay less.
How many handymen work in South Dakota
South Dakota has one of the smaller workforces in the trade: 3,450 handymen on payrolls, 0.2% of the 1,529,700 nationwide.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 7.5 per 1,000 jobs, 0.77 times the national share.
What a handyman business in South Dakota should charge
Say you run a handyman business in South Dakota and pay the state median of $23.13 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on its starting numbers: 40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $23.13 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $51,791 |
| Break-even rate | ($51,791 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $94.53 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $94.53 ÷ 0.85 | $111.21 |
That is $111.21 per billable hour, 4.8 times the wage, and $1.25 less than the $112.46 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $27.26 in South Dakota, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $118.46.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $20.51, the rate only drops to $106.61.
At this wage, overhead is most of the price: $60 of every billed hour goes to it before anyone is paid. Spreading the same overhead over more billable hours, with a second person or less drive time, brings the rate down fastest.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a handyman in South Dakota
- Licensing. What South Dakota asks for before you can work on your own: Handyman license in South Dakota.
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how handyman businesses run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 49-9071, maintenance and repair workers, general, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: handyman salary by state.