Iowa and South Dakota at a glance
Iowa and South Dakota share a border, but a paycheck does not travel across it unchanged. A $60,000 salary leaves $30,585 a year after taxes and the four basics in Iowa and $32,200 in South Dakota.
South Dakota comes out ahead by $1,615 a year ($135 a month). The calculation starts from the same gross pay in both states, subtracts federal tax, Social Security and Medicare, then each state's own income tax, and then the population-weighted cost of a one-bedroom rental, groceries, home energy and gasoline across 3,210,507 people in 99 counties in Iowa and 907,428 people in 66 counties in South Dakota.
Taxes: what each paycheck loses
Federal income tax ($5,072) and FICA ($4,590) on $60,000 are the same on both sides of the border. South Dakota does not tax wages, while Iowa takes $2,240 of a $60,000 salary in state income tax, so take-home pay is $2,240 higher in South Dakota.
At $100,000
At $100,000 take-home pay is $75,141 in Iowa and $78,901 in South Dakota, a difference of $3,760. The gap widens with income because graduated state brackets take a growing share.
Living costs
One-bedroom rent averages $902 a month in Iowa and $958 in South Dakota, so Iowa is $56 a month cheaper for housing. Food costs $3,436 a year in both, because the USDA Thrifty Food Plan is a national figure; home energy $1,811 and $1,708, and gasoline $1,445 and $1,496. Together the basics cost $17,513 a year in Iowa and $18,138 in South Dakota.
What the Census adds
Median household income is $75,059 in Iowa and $75,081 in South Dakota. Homeowners pay a median of $2,897 a year in property tax in Iowa and $2,724 in South Dakota. Commuters travel 19.8 minutes each way on average in Iowa and 17.8 in South Dakota.
Method
Taxes use the 2025 rules for a single filer with wage income only and the standard deduction. Housing and living costs are county figures from HUD (one-bedroom Fair Market Rent), the USDA Thrifty Food Plan and state energy prices from the Energy Information Administration, averaged across each state's counties and weighted by population, so large counties count more. Local income taxes are not included. Counties differ widely inside every state, so use the county pages for a specific place.