The work of healthcare administrators is critical to the quality of, and access to, healthcare services in South Dakota, both in the state’s metro areas and its large rural regions. While major hospital systems like Sioux Falls’ Sanford Health and Avera Health are certainly a major source of jobs in healthcare administration, the state’s rural healthcare facilities also provide outstanding professional opportunities in this field that can’t be overlooked. In fact, in South Dakota’s rural areas, there are no less than 38 critical access hospitals, 56 rural healthcare clinics, and 10 short-term hospitals.
Healthcare administrators in South Dakota enjoy salaries that often exceed the national average. The median salary for these professionals is $101,320 – near the national median of $104,280. Job growth in the healthcare administration field is expected to be remain strong, with a 10.3% increase projected between 2018 and 2028.
What’s Influencing Job Growth for South Dakota’s Healthcare Administrators?
As health systems consolidate, merge, and grow, greater earning potential and better and more varied opportunities for healthcare administrators follow. In South Dakota, this couldn’t be truer, with plans for a major health system merger with Sioux Falls’ Sanford Health in the works and exceptional opportunities for healthcare administrators on the horizon.
If plans to merge Sanford Health with the Des-Moines-based UnityPoint Health come to fruition, the result would be a massive health system that would come with $11 billion in annual revenue, ranking it among the top 15 largest nonprofit systems in the nation. The consolidation of these two systems would expand operations into no less than six states: South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
Where Healthcare Administrator Jobs in South Dakota Are Paying the Most
Sioux Falls has the highest number of healthcare administrators –320 by the most recent 2020 count– and also takes the top spot for offering the highest median salary in the state at $113,360. Next in line for the highest median salary is Rapid City, coming in with $108,690. The East and West rural areas of the state collectively employ 350 healthcare administrators whose combined median salary comes out to $91,605.
Rapid City
- 25th percentile: $83,840
- Median: $108,690
- 90th percentile: $152,190
Sioux Falls
- 25th percentile: $91,240
- Median: $113,360
- 90th percentile: $168,630
A fully detailed breakdown of health administrator salaries in South Dakota can be seen here:
2020 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for Medical and Health Services Managers.
Job growth projections sourced from the South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation and published in the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Long Term Occupational Projections (2018-2028) database – https://projectionscentral.com/Projections/LongTerm.
Salary figures and job market projections represent state data, not school-specific information.
Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed August 2021.