Physician assistant salary in South Dakota

Physician assistant pay by percentile

Ten percent of South Dakota physician assistants earned less than $104,660 and ten percent earned more than $158,020, a spread of $53,360. Where you land depends mostly on specialty, setting, experience and how the productivity pay is built, which is why two offers in the same city can be far apart.

Physician assistant pay by metro area

BLS published PA pay for 3 metro areas that include part of South Dakota. Sioux Falls, SD-MN has the highest median at $135,790. Metro estimates rest on smaller samples than the statewide figure, so treat a low-precision row as a direction, not a number.

How PA pay compares with other clinicians in South Dakota

The South Dakota PA workforce

BLS counts 680 physician assistants on South Dakota payrolls, or 1.49 for every 1,000 jobs in the state, more concentrated than in the country as a whole. The federal NPI registry, which also counts self-employed and part-time clinicians, lists 784 physician assistants with a South Dakota practice address, and 21 new PA NPIs there in the past twelve months.

Using these numbers when you negotiate

A state median is a reference point, not a target. If an offer comes in under $112,570, it sits in the bottom quarter of what South Dakota physician assistants earn, and you should know why before you sign: a new-grad rate, a light schedule, or a base kept low because a productivity bonus is supposed to make up the difference. If it is above $142,330, ask what is expected in return, such as call, volume targets or a longer non-compete.

Compare the whole package, not the base: how the bonus is calculated, call pay, CME, PTO and who pays malpractice tail coverage. The negotiation guide and the contract checklist walk through each term.