South Dakota energy profile

Manufacturing energy costs in South Dakota

South Dakota plants pay 9.83 cents per kWh for industrial power as of Jul 2026, which puts the state 0.6% over the national average and 26 of 51 in the country, counting from the cheapest.

Current prices in South Dakota

  • Industrial electricity: 9.83 cents per kWh (Jul 2026, EIA).
  • Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in South Dakota typically pays: 12.17 cents per kWh.
  • Industrial natural gas: 5.91 per Mcf (Jul 2026), 29% above the national average.
  • Just below South Dakota on the price ladder: Arizona at 9.35, Colorado at 9.54, Michigan at 9.81 cents. Just above: Missouri at 9.87, Iowa at 9.99, Nebraska at 10 cents.

What the rate does to operating cost

  • A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about 3,932 in electricity at South Dakota rates versus 3,908 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is 19,660 versus 19,540, and at 200 kW it is 78,640 versus 78,160.
  • With rates near the national middle, South Dakota plants can use U.S.-average defaults for rough estimates, then refine against the utility tariff. The bigger lever is usually consumption, not the rate.

What factory labor pays in South Dakota

  • Industrial production managers: $51.68/hr median in South Dakota versus $60.61 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial engineers: $44.81/hr median in South Dakota versus $49.25 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Production supervisors: $35.12/hr median in South Dakota versus $35.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial machinery mechanics: $29.60/hr median in South Dakota versus $31.02 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Tool and die makers: $28.74/hr median in South Dakota versus $30.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Machinists: $24.47/hr median in South Dakota versus $28.24 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • South Dakota employs about 44,000 manufacturing workers as of Aug 2026 (BLS).

Manufacturing base in South Dakota

  • South Dakota has 1,034 manufacturing establishments employing about 47,333 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
  • Largest sectors by establishment count: fabricated metal products (194), food manufacturing (134), machinery manufacturing (113), printing and related support (80), machine shops (61).

Sources and update cadence

  • Prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and refresh automatically when the agency publishes; this page also archives each month's South Dakota observation so the local price history deepens over time.

Last reviewed 2026-09-30.