Engineering services in South Dakota 477 establishments · 2,717 employees · 2024

Firms (SD)

477

Employment

2,717

Avg Annual Pay

$103,306

State Rank

#46 of 52

How South Dakota compares to national

Metric	South Dakota	National	South Dakota vs. U.S.
Establishments	477	100,242	0.5% of U.S. total
Avg annual pay	$103,306	$122,821	-$19,515 (-15.9%)
Location quotient	1.43	1.00	43% denser than national
Avg firm size (employees)	5.7	11.7	—
Year-over-year firm growth	+6.0%	—	—

Reading this

An establishment is a single physical location where business is conducted. A firm with multiple locations counts as multiple establishments. "Avg pay" is wages and salaries per employee, including bonuses and tips — for proprietorships, the owner's take is largely outside this number. The location quotient (LQ) of 1.43 means engineering services are 43% over-represented in South Dakota's business mix relative to the U.S. average.

Top 10 states for engineering services

Rank	State	Firms	Avg Pay
1	California	9,777	$151,517
2	Texas	7,805	$134,384
3	Florida	7,561	$109,004
4	Colorado	3,810	$132,247
5	North Carolina	3,540	$107,996
6	Virginia	3,510	$130,957
7	Georgia	3,445	$115,253
8	Pennsylvania	3,268	$115,184
9	New York	3,242	$127,200
10	Ohio	2,688	$107,950

Source. BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages — 2024 annual averages, private-ownership only, NAICS 541330. Establishment counts include any firm with at least one paid employee covered by state unemployment insurance.

SMB Density · firm counts, employment, and wages by industry × state · data from BLS QCEW 2024 annual (private ownership, state-level; mostly 6-digit NAICS, 3 specialty-trade industries at 5-digit aggregation) · data.json