SOUTH DAKOTA — Federal Data, September 2026
The Best Trade Schools in South Dakota, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
3 accredited institutions in South Dakota report enough federal data to be compared. They are ranked here on a single measure: how many months of gross pay it takes a graduate to cover the median debt.
See The South Dakota RankingU.S. Department of Education data. No school paid to be listed.
Across the 3 ranked trade schools in South Dakota, the median graduate needs 3.3 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $12,000, against median earnings of $42,388 one year after completion.
That puts South Dakota faster than the national median of 3.6 months measured across the 153 institutions in our national ranking. The best performer in the state is Mitchell Technical College in Mitchell, at 2.9 months.
Only schools that are currently operating, accredited, predominantly certificate or associate granting, and reporting both debt and earnings on at least four trade programs appear here. That is why this list is short: most institutions do not publish enough for a fair comparison.
SOUTH DAKOTA At A Glance
What the federal data says about trade schools in South Dakota
The Ranking
3 trade schools in South Dakota, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion | Programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mitchell Technical CollegeMitchell, SD | Public | 2.9 | $12,000 | $50,071 | 76% | 6 |
| 2 | Lake Area Technical CollegeWatertown, SD | Public | 3.3 | $12,000 | $42,388 | 73% | 8 |
| 3 | Western Dakota Technical CollegeRapid City, SD | Public | 3.8 | $12,548 | $38,031 | 54% | 5 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts by Field of Study and by Institution (published 9 June 2026). Debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of completers; earnings are median earnings one year after completion; both are medians across the school’s trade programs. Completion is the institution’s published rate.
The Top Five, In Detail
The five fastest payback schools in South Dakota, one by one
Mitchell Technical College
Mitchell, SD
Mitchell Technical College is a public institution in Mitchell. Across its 6 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $12,000 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $50,071 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 2.9 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 0.4 months faster than the South Dakota state median of 3.3. It reports a 76% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Electrical and Power Transmission Installers.
Lake Area Technical College
Watertown, SD
Lake Area Technical College is a public institution in Watertown. Across its 8 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $12,000 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $42,388 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 3.3 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and right on the South Dakota state median of 3.3. It reports a 73% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Construction Engineering Technology/Technician.
Western Dakota Technical College
Rapid City, SD
Western Dakota Technical College is a public institution in Rapid City. Across its 5 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $12,548 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $38,031 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 3.8 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and 0.5 months slower than the South Dakota state median of 3.3. It reports a 54% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Precision Metal Working.
Read It Carefully
Why this list is short, and what it does not measure
Absence from this page is not a verdict. Most trade schools in South Dakota are missing because the Department of Education suppresses figures for programs with small cohorts, not because they scored badly. A small, excellent school will often have no publishable data at all.
The measure is also a ratio, not a repayment plan, and it counts federal loan debt only. Cash payments, private loans and employer sponsorship are invisible here. Local wages shape earnings as much as the school does, which is exactly why comparing within a state, as this page does, is more informative than comparing across the country.
By Trade
Or compare by trade rather than by state
For SOUTH DAKOTA School Operators
Want to know how your school ranks, program by program?
We run this analysis for individual schools against their own federal data and show them where they sit against both the South Dakota median and the national one. Where the answer is good, it is the strongest recruitment argument a school owns.
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