Sunday Mr. Kallis posted a diverting quiz that purports to tell us which states best suit our temperaments. Commenters have been having fun with that exercise all day.
But how would you like to know which state best fit your profession and your pocketbook? Touting South Dakota's low wages, the Governor's Office of Economic Development offers this fun little wage widget that spreadsheetifies our paychecks with taxes and cost of living to compare purchasing power for all sorts of professions from state to state.
Naturally, I'm keenly interested in our teacher salaries. We all know South Dakota has paid its teachers less than any other state in the Union since Kevin Woster first hunted pheasant with a stone knife and trained velociraptor. I've run the numbers before to show that even if we factor in taxes and cost of living, South Dakota teachers still sacrifice thousands of dollars in purchasing power by staying to fight ignorance in our fair state.
The numbers below, straight from the GOED widget, confirm my statement: hop the border to teach in any adjoining state, and you'll have more money in your pocket:
| 25-2031 - Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education Data from South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development |
||||||
| State | 2011 Median Gross Pay |
2011 Take Home Pay |
2011 Purchasing Power |
2012 Median Gross Pay |
2012 Take Home Pay |
2012 Purchasing Power |
| South Dakota | $38,540.00 | $32,433.25 | $33,401.91 | $39,040.00 | $32,877.75 | $34,939.16 |
| Iowa | $44,940.00 | $35,420.00 | $38,837.71 | $45,680.00 | $36,053.44 | $39,970.55 |
| Minnesota | $53,180.00 | $40,444.51 | $36,568.27 | $55,440.00 | $42,040.50 | $38,640.16 |
| Montana | $42,240.00 | $33,428.18 | $33,461.64 | $46,510.00 | $36,416.42 | $35,390.11 |
| Nebraska | $46,240.00 | $36,435.54 | $40,755.64 | $47,980.00 | $37,690.79 | $42,065.61 |
| North Dakota | $41,610.00 | $34,380.39 | $36,888.83 | $43,590.00 | $35,977.27 | $37,950.70 |
| Wyoming | $57,530.00 | $46,148.75 | $47,773.03 | $59,330.00 | $47,554.25 | $46,759.34 |
By GOED's reckoning, South Dakota teachers are within $500 of Montana teachers, but in every other direction, the difference is in the thousands.
Database administrators come out much better in South Dakota... but notice that Wyoming thinks teachers are worth more than these techies:
| 15-1141 - Database Administrators | |||
| State | 2012 Median Gross Pay |
2012 Take Home Pay |
2012 Purchasing Power |
| South Dakota | $68,530.00 | $53,934.25 | $57,315.89 |
| Iowa | $66,440.00 | $49,279.53 | $54,633.62 |
| Minnesota | $78,140.00 | $56,182.15 | $51,638.00 |
| Montana | $56,570.00 | $42,700.78 | $41,497.36 |
| Nebraska | $73,780.00 | $53,818.07 | $60,064.81 |
| North Dakota | $64,740.00 | $50,220.62 | $52,975.34 |
| Wyoming | $50,920.00 | $41,719.25 | $41,021.88 |
Being a reporter stinks everywhere:
| 27-3022 - Reporters and Correspondents | |||
| State | 2012 Median Gross Pay |
2012 Take Home Pay |
2012 Purchasing Power |
| South Dakota | $25,350.00 | $22,008.25 | $23,388.15 |
| Iowa | $26,250.00 | $21,784.88 | $24,151.75 |
| Minnesota | $31,840.00 | $25,982.94 | $23,881.37 |
| Montana | $26,050.00 | $21,733.16 | $21,120.66 |
| Nebraska | $23,330.00 | $19,937.52 | $22,251.70 |
| North Dakota | $29,150.00 | $24,731.31 | $26,087.88 |
| Wyoming | $25,550.00 | $22,168.25 | $21,797.69 |
Bus tables when you finish your shift at the paper, and you might make ends meet:
| 35-3031 - Waiters and Waitresses | |||
| State | 2012 Median Gross Pay |
2012 Take Home Pay |
2012 Purchasing Power |
| South Dakota | $17,970.00 | $16,131.50 | $17,142.93 |
| Iowa | $18,130.00 | $15,755.37 | $17,467.15 |
| Minnesota | $18,060.00 | $15,761.92 | $14,487.05 |
| Montana | $17,960.00 | $15,764.10 | $15,319.83 |
| Nebraska | $17,840.00 | $15,747.27 | $17,575.07 |
| North Dakota | $18,290.00 | $16,275.55 | $17,168.30 |
| Wyoming | $17,900.00 | $16,070.50 | $15,801.87 |
South Dakota lawyers come out all right, with about twice the purchasing power of teachers:
| 23-1011 - Lawyers | |||
| State | 2012 Median Gross Pay |
2012 Take Home Pay |
2012 Purchasing Power |
| South Dakota | $77,870.00 | $60,408.75 | $64,196.33 |
| Iowa | $88,140.00 | $62,990.30 | $69,834.03 |
| Minnesota | $107,590.00 | $74,002.79 | $68,017.27 |
| Montana | $64,900.00 | $47,897.51 | $46,547.63 |
| Nebraska | $81,950.00 | $58,918.24 | $65,756.96 |
| North Dakota | $74,130.00 | $56,465.82 | $59,563.11 |
| Wyoming | $78,420.00 | $60,790.25 | $59,774.09 |
Two of these professions, database administration and waiting tables, offering Minnesotans more purchasing power if they field Governor Daugaard's mall pitch and move to South Dakota. Click through the governor's data, and I'm sure we could find more.
But as we head for another of our perennial legislative debates about how much we should spend on good public education, even the Daugaard Administration's numbers show that South Dakota doesn't value teachers' work as much as our neighbors do.
I'm not a numbers person, which is probably why I don't understand why the purchasing power of MN waitresses/waiters drops like such a rock. Does it have something to do with tips?
It is unfortunate we were not able to give our good teachers raises back when the legislatures tried to. Now with common core they will probably have to jump through the same hoops and no raises will be given.
Hard to say, Deb! I haven't checked the methodology on GOED's website. Federal BLS stats for May 2012 say the median hourly wage for waiters and waitresses in Minnesota is just four cents more per hour than in South Dakota. Are Minnesotans worse tippers than South Dakotans? Do tourists bring higher tips for Black Hills wait staff... enough to balance the surely big tips at finer eateries in the Cities?
Funny that they are spending so much time and money on trying to defend our "value" wages. Funny they didn't include the welders that they are trying to attract by spending $5,000,000 of taxpayer money.
Of course, their search doesn't include all classifications for all states, so it's a little hard to calculate.
Maybe someone else can figure that out.
Interesting: GOED says South Dakota welders make $30,740 median; Minnesota welders make $37,960. GOED contends that after taxes and cost of living, SD welders come out at $27,940, MN welders at $27,970.
Even with the state tax in Minnesota, this looks like everything else ole Denny puts out, pure horse doo doo. The cost of living in South Dakota is not so cheap. Wherever these numbers were pulled from, they smell.
Jerry, remember that the GOED calculation is subtracting tax burden and dividing by cost of living. But my regular source for cost-of-living data, the MERIC figures published by Missouri's economic development department says that, in Q2 2013, South Dakota's COLI was 0.3% below the national COLI, while Minnesota's was 0.9% above. On a $40,000 income, that's a difference of $480.
Oh oh!
The other shoe just dropped on GOED!
Financial fraud, the feds investigating, oh my!
Here's a link for what Roger is talking about
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/content/governor-misconduct-state-office-under-investigation
Thanks Owen,
I don't know how to provide links, not too techy.
No problem Roger. It's all over the news now. Even television. This could get interesting for Rounds
Owen,
KELOLAND covered it quite extensively. I'm not yet sure about the timing.
Agreed, Marion could really take a hit.