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Home care rates in South Dakota: private pay and Medicaid

Last verified October 17, 2026 · All South Dakota resources

Non-medical in-home care in South Dakota cost a median of $44 an hour in 2025, according to the CareScout Cost of Care Survey, against $35 nationally.

What do families pay for home care in South Dakota?

MeasureSouth DakotaUnited States
Median hourly cost, non-medical in-home care$44$35
Caregiver wage, mean hourly (BLS) $18.88 —

CareScout's 2025 survey reports homemaker and home health aide services together as non-medical in-home care. In South Dakota the median price is 2.3 times the average caregiver wage.

What does South Dakota Medicaid pay for personal care?

Personal Care Services, provider managed, per 15 minutes; Assistive Daily Living Services Waiver fee schedule, FY27 rate effective 2026-07-01. Self-directed S5125 is the same rate. Other waivers have their own fee schedules. Open the official rate source . Managed care plans may pay different rates.

What do caregivers earn in South Dakota?

Home health and personal care aides in South Dakota earned a median of $18.15 an hour in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The lowest-paid tenth earned under $15.62 and the highest-paid tenth over $22.75. See pay in South Dakota's largest metro areas.

What is the minimum wage for caregivers in South Dakota?

South Dakota's minimum wage is $11.85 an hour. Adjusted annually by formula.

It is scheduled to rise to $12.30 on January 1, 2027 .

Overtime rules are on the South Dakota overtime and minimum wage page.

How much should a home care agency charge per hour in South Dakota?

Enough to cover fully loaded caregiver labor, overhead and a margin. Starting from the South Dakota median aide wage of $18.15, with a 20% payroll burden, 5% paid time off and training, 5% unbilled travel, 5% overtime, 25% overhead and a 10% margin, the calculator below gives about $38.16 an hour. Change any number to match your agency.

South Dakota minimum wage

Starts at the median aide wage in South Dakota (BLS). Use your own.

Payroll taxes, workers' comp and unemployment insurance. Often 18–22%.

Paid hours you can't bill, as a share of paid hours.

Drive time between clients, as a share of paid hours.

Share of paid hours paid at 1.5×.

Profit left after labor and overhead.

Office staff, rent, insurance, software, marketing.

Starts at the median private-pay rate in South Dakota (CareScout). Enter your own or a Medicaid rate.

Bill rate for a 10% margin

$38.16/hr

Break-even rate

$33.07/hr

Covers labor and overhead, with no profit.

Labor cost per billed hour

$24.81/hr

$18.15 pay + $2.02 unbilled time + $0.50 overtime + $4.13 payroll burden

Margin at $44.00/hr

18.63%

$8.20 profit per hour after overhead. Gross margin 43.63% before overhead.

Each extra point of overtime adds $0.12 and each point of unbilled travel $0.28 to labor per billed hour.

How does the calculator work?

Labor cost per billed hour is the pay rate, plus half the overtime share for time-and-a-half, plus payroll burden, divided by the share of paid hours you can bill. The bill rate is labor divided by one minus overhead and margin when overhead is a share of revenue, or labor plus overhead divided by one minus margin when it is dollars per hour. The bill rate to test starts at the South Dakota median price, so you can see the margin a typical rate leaves.

If you budget overhead as an annual figure, the bill rate calculator spreads it over your billable hours instead. Both are estimates for planning, not pricing or wage-and-hour advice.

Sources

More for South Dakota

Home care rates by state: other states

Related guides

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