Current Minimum Wage
South Dakota minimum wage$11.85since January 1, 2026

State minimum wage

South Dakota minimum wage

$11.85 an hour as of September 2, 2026. Tipped cash wage $5.92.

  • The South Dakota minimum wage is $11.85 an hour, set by state law effective .
  • The next change is on : an indexed adjustment, amount to be announced.
  • Tipped employees must be paid at least $5.92 in cash, with a tip credit of up to $5.92.
  • A youth or training wage of $4.25 applies: SDCL 60-11-4.1 'opportunity wage': employees under 20 may be paid the opportunity wage 'as defined in section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1996 as of October 1, 1996' (the FLSA 6(g)....
  • At $11.85 an hour, full-time work (2,080 hours) pays $24,648 a year before taxes.

Tipped cash wage

$5.92
Tip credit up to $5.92

Youth / training

$4.25
SDCL 60-11-4.1 'opportunity wage': employees under 20 may be paid the opportunity wage 'as defined in section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1996 as of October 1, 1996' (the FLSA 6(g)...

Next change

Indexed, TBA
· indexed-unannounced

Local rates

None found

Scheduled increases in South Dakota

January 1, 20271 jurisdiction
StateTBA
South Dakotaindexed-unannounced · Adjusted each Jan 1 by the Aug-over-Aug increase in CPI-U (all items, U.S. city average), rounded UP to the nearest 5 cents, never decreased. DLR...
TBAindexed, amount to be announced

Coverage, exemptions, and history

Who is covered. Non-tipped employees statewide (SDCL 60-11-3 base of $8.50 as indexed under 60-11-3.2). Exempt: opportunity-wage employees under 60-11-4.1, babysitters....

Tipped employees. SDCL 60-11-3.1: cash wage not less than 50% of the minimum wage if a tip credit is claimed; employer makes up any shortfall each pay period. Tipped employee = more than $35/month in tips. DLR lists...

Indexing. Adjusted by CPI-U, all items, U.S. city average (August over prior August) on January 1 annually (since 2016-01-01) ; announced October 15 each year, published by the Secretary of DLR on....

Recent history. Initiated Measure 18 (Nov. 2014) set $8.50 for 2015 and annual CPI indexing from 2016-01-01.

sdlegislature.gov is a JavaScript app; statute text was obtained from its HTML API endpoints (sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/<section>.html), which render the official SDLRC codified law.

Statute. SDCL 60-11-3 (rate), 60-11-3.1 (tipped), 60-11-3.2 (annual adjustment; SL 2015 ch 279, Initiated Measure 18), 60-11-4.1 (opportunity wage).

Common questions

What is the minimum wage in South Dakota?

$11.85 an hour as of September 2, 2026, under state law effective January 1, 2026.

When does the South Dakota minimum wage go up next?

On January 1, 2027, by an indexed amount the agency will announce.

What is the tipped minimum wage in South Dakota?

$5.92 in cash plus tips; the employer must make up any shortfall to $11.85.

Do any cities in South Dakota have a higher minimum wage?

None were found in effect.

Sources

  1. https://dlr.sd.gov/employment_laws/minimum_wage.aspx official
  2. https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/60-11-3.html official
  3. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state official
  4. https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/60-11-3.2.html official
  5. https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/60-11-3.1.html official
  6. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped official
  7. https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/60-11-4.1.html official
  8. https://www.ncsl.org/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wages

Checked 2026-09-02 against South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation (DLR), Division of Labor and Management; researcher confidence 0.93.