Physicists job market in South Dakota
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Physicists in South Dakota.
Occupation pay
What Physicists earn in South Dakota
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$83,050South Dakota- Middle 50% of published wages
- $66,170 – $134,300
- U.S. median annual wage
- $172,250
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in South Dakota’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 12,735 represented establishments, 93.84% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for physicists in South Dakota
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
This occupation is less concentrated in the state
Physicists account for 0.58 times their national share of employment in South Dakota, according to OEWS May 2025. This is the published location quotient. The state estimate is 30 jobs, 0.1% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.08 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. Concentration describes employment share, not current hiring or future growth.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSOEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.
Published median pay is below the U.S. median
A 51.8% difference separates South Dakota's median annual wage for physicists from the U.S. median in OEWS May 2025. At $83,050, the state median is below the national figure of $172,250. The estimates describe the middle of each wage distribution, without a living-cost adjustment.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSIndustry groups are pulling in opposite directions
The overall industry figure masks differing movements among the leading industry groups associated with this occupation in South Dakota. The groups examined cover 96.3% of its national industry mix. In January to March 2026, year-over-year employment changed +2.6% in Private education and health services and -7.7% in Federal.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWEmployment and establishment counts moved apart
The industries that employ this occupation in South Dakota show differing employment and establishment movements in January to March 2026: employment changed -0.5% year over year and the number of establishments changed +1.1%. The data establish the split, but do not explain it.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWIndustry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
South Dakota industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- South Dakota · 2026 Q1-0.5%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-0.8%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | South Dakota | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +1.2% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +1.5% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +1.7% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +1.1% | 98.1% |
| 2025 Q2 | +0.3% | 98.1% |
| 2025 Q3 | -0.1% | 98.1% |
| 2025 Q4 | -0.5% | 98.1% |
| 2026 Q1 | -0.5% | 98.1% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows South Dakota’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- -0.8%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Physicists Work
The occupation mix determines which South Dakota industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional and business services | 45.6% | -0.5% | 8,444 | $1,671 |
| Private education and health services | 32.1% | +2.6% | 3,633 | $1,327 |
| Federal | 14.4% | -7.7% | 658 | $1,900 |
| Manufacturing | 3.7% | -0.2% | 1,050 | $1,356 |
| State and local | 1.9% | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Other services | 0.5% | +1.2% | 2,602 | $918 |
Which industries are growing?
2 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive South Dakota employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+2.6%
- Other services+1.2%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current South Dakota context
Current South Dakota Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in South Dakota. They are not Physicists demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · South Dakota
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 138.45 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 137.80 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 138.63 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 138.76 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 137.84 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 141.05 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 141.42 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 142.41 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 142.81 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 144.37 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 143.72 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 144.51 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 146.55 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 145.93 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Statewide layoff notices
Statewide layoff-notice filings
South Dakota statewide1 notice in this source
Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.
What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in South Dakota’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.
Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. South Dakota’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.
South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation About WARN data
Source last checked
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Physicists in South Dakota FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Physicists in South Dakota?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the South Dakota industries weighted to Physicists changed -0.5% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -0.8% nationwide.
Are wages for Physicists rising in South Dakota?
QCEW does not publish pay for Physicists in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +4.9% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this South Dakota industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 98.1% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Physicists openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 98.1% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Physicists
- SOC code
- 19-2012
- State
- South Dakota
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- -0.5%State data coverage 98.1%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -0.8%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.3 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +1.1%State data coverage 98.1%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +4.9%State data coverage 98.1%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/physicists/south-dakota#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.