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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Miscellaneous Assemblers And Fabricators Salary: South Dakota vs Iowa

Miscellaneous Assemblers And Fabricators earn a median of $39,510 in South Dakota and $46,210 in Iowa. That is a nominal gap of $6,700 (-14.5%), with Iowa 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.

$39,510
South Dakota median
$44,601 after COL
$46,210
Iowa median
$52,654 after COL
-14.5%
Nominal gap
Iowa leads
-15.3%
Adjusted gap
Iowa leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Iowa pays $6,700 more per year than South Dakota for miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators, a gap of +14.5%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Iowa still comes out ahead, with roughly $8,053 of extra purchasing power (+15.3% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Miscellaneous Assemblers And Fabricators

South Dakota

Median salary
$39,510
Mean salary
$40,700
Employment
3,580
Location quotient
0.84
Jobs per 1,000
7.9
COL-adjusted median
$44,601
Regional Price Parity
88.6%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Miscellaneous Assemblers And Fabricators page for South Dakota →

Miscellaneous Assemblers And Fabricators

Iowa

Median salary
$46,210
Mean salary
$44,880
Employment
20,500
Location quotient
1.39
Jobs per 1,000
13.1
COL-adjusted median
$52,654
Regional Price Parity
87.8%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Miscellaneous Assemblers And Fabricators page for Iowa →

Related pages

Keep digging into miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators 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.