Software Engineer Salary in South Dakota and How to Increase It

The software engineer salary in South Dakota is $82,489 yearly.

South Dakota is located in the Upper Midwest of the US, and it’s a State where software engineers are enjoying relative ease of life.

With salaries ($82,489) same as the National average, software engineers in South Dakota enjoy a yearly bonus of $4,000. It is a State where the cost of living is affordable.

Software Engineer Salary in South Dakota Cities

South Dakota has some cities that are good places to work and live in with higher salaries; cities like Watertown, which pays $68,639; Brookings and Spearfish are cities that also stand out tall.

The only drawback here is that salary may not grow potentially in these cities due to the fact that 17% separates the top paying city from the least.

Cities with Highest Software Engineer Salary in South Dakota

The table below highlights the cities in the State of South Dakota where software engineers are paid the highest salaries:

City	Yearly Salary ($)
Watertown	68,639
Brookings	67,766
Spearfish	66,633
Rapid City	66,573
Pierre	63,047
Mitchell	61,792
Aberdeen	60,723
Sioux Falls	60,434
Huron	59,634
Yankton	57,585

Skill-based Software Engineer Salary in South Dakota

Skills play a vital part in a software engineer getting ahead and overall growth in terms of salary and potential career upward movement.

In the State of South Dakota, the much needed skills a software engineer needs are basically listed below alongside how much is added to their yearly salary due to having such skill:

• Scala skilled engineers earn 24.30% in South Dakota, which translates to $20,044 as salary add on.
• Os kernel skilled engineers in South Dakota earn 17.55%, which is $14,476 yearly salary add on.
• Big Data skilled engineers in South Dakota earn 17.35% add on to salary, which is $14,311 yearly.
• Microservices skilled engineers in South Dakota earn 16.13%, which is $13,305 yearly add on to salary.
• Machine Learning skilled engineers in South Dakota earn 11.91%, which is $9,659 yearly added on salary.
• Data Structures skilled engineers in South Dakota earn 10.99%, which translate to $9,065 yearly add on to salary.

Experience-based Software Engineer Salary in South Dakota

Experience in any professional career, including software engineering can stand you out for higher salary.

In South Dakota, the software engineer salary is listed below based on the number of years of experience on the job:

• 1 year experience as software engineer in South Dakota can earn you $98,261 basic salary.
• 1 – 2 years of experience on the job as a software engineer in South Dakota can earn you $95,816 yearly salary.
• 3 – 5 years of experience working as a software engineer in South Dakota earns $100,000.
• 6 – 9 years as software engineer in South Dakota earns $109,584 yearly.
• 10 years and above as a software engineer in South Dakota earns $125,558 yearly salary.

10 Companies with Highest Software Engineer Salary in South Dakota

South Dakota has many thriving established and aspiring startups and large corporations scattered in various parts of the State.

The table below shows the top paying companies in South Dakota for software engineers:

Companies	Salary Yearly ($)
Apple	165,154
facebook	158,781
Octo Consulting Group	153,511
Capital One	153,430
Samsung Electrical	152,010
Juniper Networks	141,992
Oracle	141,591
Salesforce	136,514
Amazon.com	132,788
Cisco	132,681

More Benefits for Software Engineers in South Dakota

Software engineers in South Dakota also enjoy other benefits in addition to their salaries, these include:

• Health Insurance

The software engineer in South Dakota gets a comprehensive health insurance scheme that the employing company contributes towards.

• Vision Insurance

South Dakota software engineers are given vision insurance by their employers. The vision of the software engineer in South Dakota is very important to their employers, so they go all out to help keep their vision healthy.

• Visa Assistance Program

South Dakota software engineers can sometimes be invited to programs outside the country; the employer helps the engineer in processing and getting the visa for the event.

• Stocks Benefits

The software engineer in South Dakota may be given company stocks, which they can convert to cash after maturity.

• Food Provided

Due to the long hours of work and the short breaks in between during birth and testing of applications, the software engineer in South Dakota is unable to cater for food during these periods.

The companies provide foods at such times for their software engineers in the State.

What Related Job Titles to Software Engineer Earn in South Dakota

Highlighted below are the related job titles to software engineering and how much they earn in the State of South Dakota:

• Developer in South Dakota earns $89,815 yearly.
• Frontend Developer in South Dakota earns $86,244 yearly.
• Full Stack Developer in South Dakota earns $78,841 yearly.
• Application Developer in South Dakota earns $55,557 yearly.
• Backend Developer in South Dakota earns $30,435 yearly.

Software Engineer Salary and Job Outlook in South Dakota

The Upper Midwest has a cost of living ratio that is high as you move further North, South Dakota is one of the States within the Upper Midwest and it has a cost of living ratio of 97.0%, with salaries in the range of $82,489 yearly.

Between the top paying city in the State, Watertown ($68,639) and the least paying city, Yankton ($57,585), the difference in salary is 17%, which greatly highlights the limited growth for a potential salary increase.

However, due to its affordable cost of living, South Dakota might be a good State to consider for entry level software engineering positions, since it pays same as national average.

How to increase your Salary as a Software Engineer in South Dakota

If you are looking to increase your salary as a software engineer in South Dakota, here are ideas to apply:

• Skills: Improve on your skill set and see the effect it has on your salary. The list above shows how much software engineers in South Dakota earn as salary with certain skills.

• A good qualification: A good and sound qualification can translate to earning high salaries in South Dakota as a software engineer. So, get certified and increase your chances of increasing your salary.

• Relocate: Some cities in South Dakota pay higher salaries to software engineers than others. It may therefore be a good idea to relocate to any of the cities that pay higher salary, as shown above.

• Work for higher paying companies: Like in other States, some companies in South Dakota pay higher salaries to software engineers than others, as shown in the table above. To increase your salary, you can look into working for the high-paying companies.

• Network other professionals: Networking with other software engineering professionals in South Dakota can yield an increase in your salary. Some lucrative insider jobs are left open for insiders to fill. A good network of friends can help you get this kind of jobs, which will definitely increasing your salary.

More Career Opportunities for Software Engineer in South Dakota

Software engineers in South Dakota can further advance their careers or explore opportunities in different but related industries.

Shown below are related industries where a software engineer can also get into in South Dakota (including the salary they earn):

• Database administrator engineer earns in the State of South Dakota $76,000 yearly salary.
• Civil engineer earns in the State of South Dakota $74,000 yearly.
• Computer system analyst engineer earns $73,000 yearly salary in South Dakota.
• Distance learning coordinator engineer in South Dakota earns $74,000 yearly.
• Online merchant engineer in South Dakota earns $67,000 yearly.

Conclusion

With a 97.0% cost of living and a salary same as national average ($82,489) South Dakota is a state that software engineers can consider living in due to its low cost of living.

It is one of the States that is working hard to attract software engineers to its region.

Information sources: insight.dice.com, bls.gov, payscale.com, indeed.com, hackreactor.com, ziprecruiter.com, glassdoor.com, and fullstackacademy.com.