State lawmakers set to receive a $3,000 raise
South Dakota lawmakers are set to receive a raise of nearly $3,000 following the state Board of Finance’s approval Wednesday of an obligatory pay adjustment for the next legislative session.
The change will bring 2025 lawmaker salaries to $16,348. The figure is based on the median South Dakota salary, as required by a 2018 law.
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The law sets lawmakers’ compensation at one-fifth of the state’s median household income, which the state says is currently $81,740.
Legislators saw their pay decline recently, earning nearly $14,800 for the 2023 legislative session but only about $13,400 in 2024.
Tuesday’s adjustment follows a long history of salary increases for South Dakota lawmakers. When the state’s constitution was adopted in 1889, legislators were paid just $5 per day, plus 10 cents per mile for one round trip to the capital. This compensation remained unchanged for over 30 years, aside from a brief cut in mileage reimbursement to 5 cents in 1891.
In 1921, lawmakers outside the Pierre area were granted a $200 living expense allowance, which survived a court challenge after the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled it to be expense money rather than additional pay.
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Of fucking course they got a raise.