The Legislative Research Council is guessing that legislators will get close to a $640 raise for the 2027 Session, up 4% from the current $15,790:
SD Median Household income, as reported by the US Census Bureau Current Population Survey, is estimated to be $83,044 for 2025, up from $79,850 in 2024. One fifth of this amount is $16,608.80, which will be the new salary for legislators for the 2027 Session, as required by SDCL 2-4-2. The final request is dependent on the final SD Median Household Income for 2025 when it is released by the US Census Bureau early September. This amount is to be added to the ongoing LRC budget to pay for the increase in legislator salaries [Legislative Research Council, “2028 Budget Request,” presented to Legislative Executive Board 2026.08.26].
If median household income rises to LRC’s predicted level, the resultant 4% raise won’t quite make up for the 4.8% cut legislators took from 2025 to 2026.
How sweet! They get money for doing nothing for 40 “working” days. FORTY DAYS. Mostly yammering, posturing, “meeting”, and then everything gets passed or rejected the last week.