New grad RN jobs and nurse residency programs in South Dakota

A quarter of South Dakota RNs earn less than $31.29 an hour ($65,070 a year) and half earn more than $37.53. First-year offers tend to sit near the lower figure, since hospital pay scales usually rise with experience.

South Dakota ranks 49th of the 50 states and DC for median RN pay. When you compare offers, weigh them against local rent as well as against other states.

$6.24 an hour separates the 25th percentile from the median here, close to the typical gap across the states.

The largest RN job market touching South Dakota is the Sioux Falls area, with 7,680 RNs; that count includes nurses in Minnesota.

The South Dakota Board of Nursing licenses RNs in South Dakota.

South Dakota is in the Nurse Licensure Compact. If South Dakota is your primary state of residence, the license you earn after the NCLEX can be multistate, valid in every compact state. Nurses who live in another compact state can work in South Dakota on their home state's multistate license.

Of its neighboring states, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming are in the compact; Minnesota is not, so working there means a separate license.

Yes, with conditions. South Dakota issues an RN temporary permit by examination once it has your exam application, background check, school information, permit form and fee, and NCLEX registration. You practice only with an RN on duty in your area and sign as "R.N. App". It ends at your first result or after 90 days, works only in South Dakota, and cannot be renewed.

Source: South Dakota Board of Nursing, RN Application for Temporary Permit by Examination, read October 2026. The permit makes it legal; whether you can use it depends on the employer, since not every hospital starts graduate nurses before they are licensed. Ask the recruiter.

29 of the 50 states and DC allow something like this, each with its own limits. See every state's rule.

South Dakota had one of the highest first-time NCLEX-RN pass rates in the country in 2025: 91.6% of the 740 U.S.-educated candidates who tested for a South Dakota license passed, 4.9 points above the national rate of 86.7%.

Against the 4 new-grad programs we track here, that is about 185 new test takers per program, well above the national figure of about 114. Part of that is how few programs we track here, so look at new-grad RN jobs outside residencies as well.

The exam is the same everywhere; the rate tells you about the graduates who tested here, not about your own chances. See pass rates in every state.

Among its neighboring states, Minnesota both pays RNs the most (a median of $101,510) and has the most new-grad programs on our list (33).