South Dakota·Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations·SOC 27-2012

Best Producer programs in South Dakota, ranked by enrollment

Produce or direct stage, television, radio, video, or film productions for entertainment, information, or instruction.

5 schools in South Dakota run programs that feed this job, graduating 19 people a year. The job pays a median of $60,260 in South Dakota across about 170 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledDirectorProducerCasting AgentNews DirectorNews ProducerProgram ManagerCasting DirectorArtistic Director
Graduates / yr
19
in South Dakota
Median pay · South Dakota
$60,260
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
170
people employed
Schools
5
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
61%
across those schools
Median net price
$23,011
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in South Dakota that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

1 programs in South Dakota that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in South Dakota (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own South Dakota page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
119
100.0%
5$20,667$24,994

Top 5 schools in South Dakota

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 5 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD Public · 1 feeder programs
8Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General62%98%
2University of South Dakota
Vermillion, SD Public · 1 feeder programs
6Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General$33,85260%99%
3University of Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls, SD Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
3Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General63%$19,43983%
4Augustana University
Sioux Falls, SD Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General73%$23,01168%
5Northern State University
Aberdeen, SD Public · 1 feeder programs
1Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General49%93%

All 5 schools in South Dakota

Every school in South Dakota with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in South Dakota that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
South Dakota State UniversityBrookingsPublic81
University of South DakotaVermillionPublic61
University of Sioux FallsSioux FallsPrivate not-for-profit31
Augustana UniversitySioux FallsPrivate not-for-profit11
Northern State UniversityAberdeenPublic11

What producers and directors earn in South Dakota

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in South Dakota
$60,260
Mean annual
$65,090
Jobs in state
170
What the range looks like
10th pct$38,140Median$60,26090th pct$109,180
Versus the national median
-33.3%

U.S. median $90,360. South Dakota pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.39×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in South Dakota

Sioux Falls, SD-MN
$60,130median
90 jobs
Rapid City, SD
$52,680median
30 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+4.9%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
12,800
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
8,300
167,000 → 175,200
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Producers and Directors page.

How to become a Producer

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Active ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingReading ComprehensionMonitoringWriting

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in South Dakota

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 10 majors mapped to Producers and Directors10 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 09.0701Radio and Television
  • 50.0501Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General
  • 50.0507Directing and Theatrical Production
  • 50.0509Musical Theatre
  • 50.0512Theatre and Dance
  • 50.0599Dramatic/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, Other
  • 50.0601Film/Cinema/Media Studies
  • 50.0602Cinematography and Film/Video Production
  • 50.0607Documentary Production
  • 50.1004Theatre/Theatre Arts Management

Common questions

Answers for people weighing producers and directors programs in South Dakota.

What degree do you need to become a Producer?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General, which awarded 19 degrees in South Dakota in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Producer?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft. Together they graduate about 19 people a year in South Dakota.

How much do producers and directors earn in South Dakota?+

The median is $60,260 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 33.3% below the U.S. median of $90,360. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for producers and directors growing?+

BLS projects a +4.9% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 12,800 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in South Dakota?+

5 institutions in South Dakota reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do producers and directors work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Director, Producer, Casting Agent, News Director, News Producer, Program Manager among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-2012.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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