South Dakota
What running a truck through South Dakota costs in fuel tax, what the state pays the people who drive them, and how many carriers actually call it home. Every figure is pulled from a public source and dated, and the per-mile numbers are worked at 6.0 mpg.
Fuel tax
$0.2800
Per gallon, 4Q2026. Rank 33 of 47.
Costs you
4.67c
Per mile at 6.0 mpg.
Median driver pay
$58,690
May 2025. Rank 27 of 51.
Active carriers
4,325
Interstate, based in South Dakota. Rank 38 of 51.
Fuel tax
$0.2800 a gallon, what that is per mile, and what it costs over a run.
Driver pay
A median of $58,690, a tenth percentile of $41,590 and a ninetieth of $78,610. What the spread says about the market.
Carriers
4,325 active interstate carriers running 25,161 trucks between them, at an average of 5.8 each.
How South Dakota compares
The average diesel rate across the 47 states that publish one is $0.3681, so South Dakota sits below it by $0.0881 a gallon. Over 100,000 miles at 6.0 mpg that difference is $1,468. Nationally, 47% of active interstate carriers run one truck; here it is 41%.
Other states