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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

General And Operations Managers Salary: Tennessee vs South Dakota

General And Operations Managers earn a median of $102,850 in Tennessee and $133,440 in South Dakota. That is a nominal gap of $30,590 (-22.9%), with South Dakota paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$102,850
Tennessee median
$111,952 after COL
$133,440
South Dakota median
$150,633 after COL
-22.9%
Nominal gap
South Dakota leads
-25.7%
Adjusted gap
South Dakota leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, South Dakota pays $30,590 more per year than Tennessee for general and operations managers, a gap of +22.9%.

After adjusting for cost of living, South Dakota still comes out ahead, with roughly $38,682 of extra purchasing power (+25.7% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for general and operations managers in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

General And Operations Managers

Tennessee

Median salary
$102,850
Mean salary
$129,040
Employment
66,610
Location quotient
0.88
Jobs per 1,000
20.3
COL-adjusted median
$111,952
Regional Price Parity
91.9%

Exact state RPP match.

Full General And Operations Managers page for Tennessee →

General And Operations Managers

South Dakota

Median salary
$133,440
Mean salary
$150,020
Employment
4,440
Location quotient
0.42
Jobs per 1,000
9.8
COL-adjusted median
$150,633
Regional Price Parity
88.6%

Exact state RPP match.

Full General And Operations Managers page for South Dakota →

Related pages

Keep digging into general and operations managers from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.