Mechatronics technician salary in South Dakota (2026)

How much does a mechatronics technician make in South Dakota?

Start with the spread, because it tells you more than any single number. Salary.com's South Dakota range runs from about $41,026 at the 10th percentile up to $67,072 at the 90th. The middle 50% of technicians, the ones with a few years in and a solid PLC background, sit between $46,902 and $60,535. If you are new to the trade in this state, plan your budget around the low $40,000s and treat anything above $60,000 as something you climb toward, not start at.

Because BLS doesn't publish a South Dakota number, you lose the employer-survey anchor that most states get. That absence is itself a data point. It means the count of dedicated mechatronics and electro-mechanical technicians here is small, and a lot of the actual work happens under job titles like maintenance technician, controls technician, or automation technician at food plants and electronics manufacturers. The people earning the top decile in South Dakota are almost always the ones who can troubleshoot Rockwell or Siemens PLCs and HMIs cold, not just swap parts.

South Dakota mechatronics salary: BLS vs Salary.com vs Indeed

The three sources measure different things, which is why they split. BLS surveys employers directly, but it needs enough responding establishments in a state to publish, and South Dakota didn't clear that bar for this occupation, so there is no state BLS figure to cite. Salary.com fills that gap with a modeled estimate built from HR datasets and cost-of-living adjustments, and it lands at $53,356. Indeed pulls from self-reported salaries and job postings, and its $34.37/hour (about $71,490 a year) comes from just 2 reported salaries. Two. That is far too small a sample to trust, and it likely reflects a couple of high-skill controls roles rather than the typical job.

So which do you use? For a realistic planning number, anchor on Salary.com's $53,356 and its $46,902 to $60,535 middle band. When you sit down to negotiate, though, bring the national median of $73,900 and the Indeed high end to the table, because South Dakota's low modeled figure partly reflects thin data, not necessarily what a strong candidate can command at a plant that genuinely needs automation skills.

How South Dakota compares with nearby states

South Dakota sits in the Midwest, and among its census-region peers the pay picture is uneven. Neighboring North Dakota leads the region at a $82,820 median, and Wisconsin comes in at $76,290, both well above South Dakota's modeled $53,356. That gap is worth noting if you live near a state line, because North Dakota in particular pays a real premium for the same skill set, even though it employs only about 90 technicians statewide.

Who hires mechatronics technicians in South Dakota

The clearest demand in South Dakota comes from Sioux Falls. Smithfield Foods runs a large processing plant there and recruits maintenance techs with electrical and electronics training, specifically people who know programmable logic controllers, HMIs, and platforms like Rockwell Automation, Siemens, GE, Horner, and Opto22. That is a mechatronics job in everything but title, and food processing runs around the clock, so the skills stay in demand.

Up in Brookings, Daktronics builds video displays and scoreboards with a workforce north of 1,500 people, spanning electronic assembly, machine operation, and welding. It is one of the state's larger electronics manufacturers and a natural fit for technicians who can bridge electrical and mechanical systems. Smaller shops like DSG's custom control operation and DeGeest also post industrial automation roles in the Sioux Falls area.

How to earn more as a mechatronics technician in South Dakota

Stack the controls certs the plants actually name

The South Dakota employers hiring for this work name specific platforms in their postings: Rockwell Automation, Siemens, GE, HMIs, and PLCs generally. That is your roadmap. A technician who can walk in and troubleshoot a Rockwell or Siemens PLC is the one who reaches Salary.com's upper band near $60,535 instead of starting at $41,026. Build the stack deliberately and document it. See our certifications guide for which credentials carry weight with automation employers.

Look hard at the North Dakota state line

North Dakota carries the highest mechatronics technician median in the region at $82,820, against South Dakota's modeled $53,356. Wisconsin sits at $76,290. If you are within commuting range of a state border, or open to relocating, that difference is large enough to change your career math for the same skill set. It is one of the few times geography alone can move your pay by tens of thousands of dollars.

Step up to the controls engineer track

South Dakota's technician ceiling is real, and the modeled top decile of $67,072 shows it. The way past that ceiling is the engineering side of the same work, designing and commissioning the automation instead of only maintaining it. Read how the jump changes your earnings in our controls engineer career guide and the mechatronics salary guide.

Sources & methodology

Figures on this page come from four independent datasets, retrieved 2026-07-14. Where they disagree, the disagreement is shown rather than averaged away; the source-comparison section explains why each number differs.

• BLS OEWS, SOC 17-3024, May 2025 national and state estimates (state file oesm25st.zip). Employer-reported, the authoritative baseline.
• Salary.com, Mechatronics Technician in South Dakota, as of July 01, 2026. HR-reported and modelled averages.
• Indeed, mechatronics technician salaries in South Dakota, based on 2 reported salaries. Posting-derived.
• Smithfield Foods maintenance and automation roles (Indeed, South Dakota)
• Daktronics employment, Brookings SD