H-1B activity in South Dakota. U.S. Department of Labor disclosure data shows 1,496 Labor Condition Applications filed on behalf of H-1B workers in South Dakota, spanning 246 distinct employers. DOL certified these petitions at a 96.3% rate, meaning the prevailing-wage and working-conditions attestations cleared preliminary review before USCIS took over final adjudication. That volume gives South Dakota a measurable footprint in the national H-1B program and a data-backed view of where foreign specialty-occupation workers are being placed on U.S. soil.

What employers are paying. The average offered wage on South Dakota H-1B petitions is $103,710. Because each LCA must meet or exceed the DOL prevailing wage for the specific role and worksite, this figure reflects genuine pay commitments rather than aspirational market surveys, and it varies with the mix of occupations, wage levels (I through IV), and metropolitan areas active in the state. The single most-sponsored occupation is Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education, which alone accounts for 147 petitions at an average of $51,174, followed by Software Developers and Physicians, All Other.

Who does the sponsoring. The top H-1B sponsor in South Dakota is Sanford Clinic with 93 petitions at an average offered wage of $209,063, followed by South Dakota State University, Sicangu Oyate Ho Inc, Avera McKennan. Taken together, the 246 employers active in the state form a concrete picture of which industries and company sizes rely on H-1B sponsorship inside South Dakota. Because the data comes directly from DOL LCA disclosures (public record), each figure is auditable down to the individual petition, a meaningful contrast with anecdotal labor-market reporting.

Volume vs. pay, do they agree? By petition volume, South Dakota ranks #47 of 55 states. By average offered wage, it ranks #45 of 55. The two ranks are close, volume and pay move together in South Dakota more than in most states.