South Dakota Minimum Wage 2026: $11.85, Indexed Every January

South Dakota's minimum wage is $11.85 an hour, effective January 1, 2026. It rises every January 1 by the change in the Consumer Price Index, rounded up to the nearest five cents, and can't go down; the Department of Labor and Regulation must post the 2027 rate by October 15, 2026, and hadn't yet on September 24. Tipped employees can be paid $5.925 an hour, half the minimum, when tips make up the rest. Workers under 20 can be paid a $4.25 opportunity wage for their first 90 days. There are no city rates.

South Dakota at a glance

How South Dakota sets its minimum wage

Voters set South Dakota's current system with Initiated Measure 18 in 2014. The base statute, SDCL 60-11-3, still reads $8.50 an hour, but SDCL 60-11-3.2 has adjusted it every January 1 since 2016 by the increase in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers, U.S. city average, measured from August of one year to August of the next. The increase is rounded up to the nearest five cents, and the rate can never go down. The Secretary of Labor and Regulation must publish the next year's rate on DLR's website by October 15, and it takes effect the following January 1.

For 2026 that process produced $11.85 an hour, effective January 1, 2026. The 2027 rate will be published by October 15, 2026; DLR's minimum wage page still showed only the 2026 rate when we checked on September 24. DLR's minimum wage FAQ adds that a new rate applies to hours worked in the new year, not to paychecks issued then for hours worked earlier.

Tipped employees

An employer that claims a tip credit must pay a cash wage of at least 50% of the minimum wage (SDCL 60-11-3.1), which DLR lists as $5.925 an hour for 2026. A tipped employee is one who customarily and regularly receives more than $35 a month in tips. If tips plus the cash wage don't reach $11.85 an hour, the employer makes up the difference for each pay period, and it must keep a record of all tips employees receive. The U.S. Department of Labor's tipped wage table rounds the cash wage to $5.93; DLR's figure is $5.925.

Exceptions: opportunity wage and exempt jobs

• Opportunity wage. Under SDCL 60-11-4.1, workers under 20 can be paid the federal opportunity wage. DLR's FAQ gives it as at least $4.25 an hour for the first 90 consecutive calendar days after the person is first employed, and employers may not displace other employees to hire at that rate.
• Not covered: babysitters, outside salespeople, and employees of amusement or recreational establishments, organized camps and religious or nonprofit educational conference centers that operate no more than seven months a year or whose receipts in any six months were no more than a third of the other six months'.
• By DLR permit: apprentices, learners and people with a developmental disability, at a wage the permit fixes (SDCL 60-11-5).

Part-time and temporary employees are covered; independent contractors are not. Federal law can still apply to a job South Dakota exempts.

No local rates

DLR publishes a single statewide rate, and we found no city or county minimum wage in South Dakota. $11.85 applies in Sioux Falls, Rapid City and everywhere else.

What this means for hiring

South Dakota's minimum rises every January, so a job ad written at "starting at $12" last year can drift toward the floor. Recheck your starting rates when DLR posts the 2027 figure in October. For everything else an employer needs, including the absence of a state break or overtime law, see our South Dakota labor laws guide, and use the employee cost calculator to see what a hire costs at the wage you actually pay.

Frequently asked questions

Part of Boostpoint’s minimum wage by state series.