This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for dui / dwi in South Dakota, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a dui / dwi in South Dakota costs on average $6,000, typically $4,000-$8,000 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $160 to $300 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 3-6 months to resolve. Common related costs include court filing fee ($100-$300) and dmv hearing fee ($100-$200).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $1,700 | $2,950 | $4,200 | 1-3 months |
| Moderate | $4,000 | $6,000 | $8,000 | 3-6 months |
| Complex | $7,650 | $13,050 | $19,200 | 6-12 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$160 – $300/ hour
Median: $220/hr
3-6 months
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>DUI/DWI legal cost has two layers that are easy to underestimate: the attorney fee itself, and the non-attorney costs that follow a conviction or plea. The attorney fee is driven mainly by whether the case goes to trial (far more hours billed) or resolves through a plea agreement, plus complicating factors like BAC level, prior offenses, or an accident with injuries. Many DUI attorneys charge a flat fee for a straightforward first offense and switch to hourly billing once the case becomes contested.
Beyond the attorney, a DUI case typically layers on court fines, a state-mandated alcohol education or treatment program, license reinstatement fees, and — for many drivers — an ignition interlock device with ongoing monthly costs. Insurance premium increases are not a one-time legal cost but often the largest total expense over a 3-5 year period following conviction, which is why the figures on this page reflect legal defense costs specifically, not the lifetime cost of a conviction.
Take a moderate-complexity dui / dwi matter in South Dakota. The recorded median total is $6,000, with reported quotes clustering between $4,000 and $8,000. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,200–$3,500, which leaves roughly $2,500–$4,800 of the South Dakota median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes. 2 further recorded fees are not itemised above and are not in that total.
At $6,000, the median dui / dwi cost in South Dakota runs 19% below the $7,403 national average across all 50 states and DC.
South Dakota carries 3 rows — simple, $1,700–$4,200 at $120–$240/hr over 1-3 months; moderate, $4,000–$8,000 at $160–$300/hr over 3-6 months; complex, $7,650–$19,200 at $200–$360/hr over 6-12 months — on 4 shared citations. Those figures place it in the lower quarter of the table.
$6,000 is a median, not the middle of the band — $2,000 above the $4,000 floor, $2,000 under the $8,000 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 51.
Sorted by median cost, South Dakota is 43rd of 51 for a dui / dwi, placing it in the lowest-cost quarter of the table: $1,450 and 19% below the $7,450 midpoint, with 8 states recording a lower median still.
Alabama is the nearest state below at $5,950 — $50 away — while the next state up, West Virginia, is a wider $200 step at $6,200. South Dakota therefore sits at the top edge of a band rather than in the middle of one.
Only one other tracked state, Alabama, records a median within three percent of South Dakota's $6,000 — a pairing rather than a cluster.
On hourly rate alone South Dakota is 46th of 51 at $220 an hour, 3 places behind its 43rd position on total cost.
| Rank | State | Median | Against South Dakota |
|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | Missouri | $6,350 | +$350 |
| 38 | New Mexico | $6,350 | +$350 |
| 39 | Iowa | $6,300 | +$300 |
| 40 | Nebraska | $6,250 | +$250 |
| 41 | Mississippi | $6,200 | +$200 |
| 42 | West Virginia | $6,200 | +$200 |
| 43 | South Dakota | $6,000 | — |
| 44 | Alabama | $5,950 | −$50 |
| 45 | North Dakota | $5,800 | −$200 |
| 46 | Kansas | $5,750 | −$250 |
| 47 | Louisiana | $5,700 | −$300 |
| 48 | Arkansas | $5,600 | −$400 |
| 49 | Kentucky | $5,600 | −$400 |
The 43rd position is not a stable fact about South Dakota: $200 up or $50 down moves South Dakota a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 16 rows, 8 above and 8 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing New Mexico, Iowa, Nebraska, Mississippi, West Virginia and adding $350 to the $6,000 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Alabama, North Dakota, Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas: $400.
$3,800 short of Washington ($9,800), $450 clear of South Carolina ($5,550).
The $6,000 median divided by the $220 median rate implies roughly 27 billable hours. That rounds to the same 27 hours as the peer median, so on workload South Dakota is indistinguishable from the middle of the table at this precision.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex dui / dwi costs 4.4x a simple one in South Dakota, but the implied workload only rises 2.9x — 16 hours at $180 becomes 47 hours at $280 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.56x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
The South Dakota moderate band spans $4,000 to $8,000 — $4,000 — which is $1,000 narrower than the peer-median band of $5,000, so quoted dui / dwi figures cluster more tightly here than in most tracked states. End to end that is 18 hours at $220.
Per month of elapsed time the two tiers are close: about $1,333 a month across the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate matter, and $1,450 a month across the 6-12 months recorded for a complex one.
A third ordering: by implied hours South Dakota is 22nd of 51 at 27 hours, 21 places above its cost rank of 43rd on cost — more work behind the same dui / dwi money.
86% up the $4,000–$8,000 band sits the $7,450 table midpoint, buying 34 hours at $220 against the 27 the local dui / dwi median implies — 7 hours apart.
| Measure | South Dakota | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $6,000 | 43rd |
| Hourly median | $220 | 46th |
| Implied hours | 27 | 22nd |
| Simple median | $2,950 | 39th |
| Complex median | $13,050 | 48th |
$220 an hour puts South Dakota between South Carolina ($220) and Louisiana ($215) — not the dui / dwi cost pairing.
New Mexico, South Carolina record the same $220: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$6,000 buys 33 hours at $180, 27 at $220, 21 at $280.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 44 | New Mexico | $220 |
| 45 | South Carolina | $220 |
| 46 | South Dakota | $220 |
| 47 | Louisiana | $215 |
| 48 | Oklahoma | $205 |
Ranked tier by tier, South Dakota slides 9 places downward: 39th at the simple tier, 43rd at moderate, 48th at complex. Its headline moderate position sits between the two extremes rather than summarising them.
$2,950 is 39th of 51 on a straightforward dui / dwi, under Tennessee ($3,000) and over West Virginia ($2,950), $450 under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
$13,050 is 48th of 51 once contested, between South Carolina ($13,050) and Mississippi ($12,800), $3,300 off the $16,350 tier midpoint.
The three bands are continuous in South Dakota: the simple tier reaches $4,200 where the moderate tier starts at $4,000, and the moderate tier reaches $8,000 where the complex tier starts at $7,650. A single quoted figure can therefore belong to two different tiers, and the tier label — not the number — is what identifies which.
| Tier | South Dakota | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $2,950 | 39th | $3,400 | 16 |
| moderate | $6,000 | 43rd | $7,450 | 27 |
| complex | $13,050 | 48th | $16,350 | 47 |
$2,950 puts South Dakota 39th of 51 on straightforward matters, 4 up on its moderate position, and $450 (13%) under the $3,400 tier midpoint.
16 implied hours at $180: 59% of the moderate tier's 27, over 1-3 months.
Tennessee ($3,000) and West Virginia ($2,950) bracket it — a $50 window.
3 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $2,950, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
$13,050 drops South Dakota to 48th of 51 on contested matters, 5 below its moderate position and $3,300 (20%) under the $16,350 tier midpoint.
47 implied hours at $280: 174% of the moderate tier's 27, over 6-12 months.
South Carolina ($13,050) and Mississippi ($12,800) bracket it — a $250 window.
6 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $13,050, denser than the 1 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 37 | Missouri | $3,050 |
| 38 | Tennessee | $3,000 |
| 39 | South Dakota | $2,950 |
| 40 | West Virginia | $2,950 |
| 41 | North Dakota | $2,900 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 46 | Louisiana | $13,150 |
| 47 | South Carolina | $13,050 |
| 48 | South Dakota | $13,050 |
| 49 | Mississippi | $12,800 |
| 50 | Arkansas | $11,600 |
$6,000 ranks a dui / dwi 3rd of 8 in South Dakota, under Divorce, over Immigration. At 78% of Criminal Defense ($7,650).
Across practice areas South Dakota ranges from 40th of 51 for Real Estate Closing to 47th for Criminal Defense — a 7-place spread, with its 43rd on dui / dwi inside it.
South Dakota is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Immigration runs 17% below its own midpoint while Personal Injury runs 30% below its own midpoint — a 13-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in South Dakota is 4.9x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
All 7 tracked matter types place South Dakota in the lower third of their tables, the dui / dwi figure included.
In percentile terms it sits at the 16th percentile of the 51 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $2,750 | $7,650 | $24,000 | 32 | 47th | −25% | Oklahoma |
| Divorce | $2,400 | $6,950 | $18,450 | 29 | 46th | −19% | Kentucky |
| DUI / DWI | $2,950 | $6,000 | $13,050 | 27 | 43rd | −19% | West Virginia |
| Immigration | $1,450 | $3,950 | $8,100 | 18 | 42nd | −17% | South Carolina |
| Personal Injury | $1,150 | $3,650 | $11,550 | — | — | −30% | — |
| Bankruptcy | $1,300 | $2,550 | $3,650 | 13 | 44th | −29% | Louisiana |
| Real Estate Closing | $800 | $1,700 | $3,800 | 9 | 40th | −24% | Kansas |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $500 | $1,550 | $4,950 | 7 | 41st | −25% | North Dakota |
Simple tier. $2,950 ÷ $180 = about 16 hours, spread over 1-3 months at roughly $1,475 a month. The $3,050 step to the moderate tier is 11 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $6,000 to $13,050 is a $7,050 step, mostly work: 20 more hours at $220 is $4,400, while moving to $280 across 47 hours adds $2,820. Work carries 61%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Alabama ($5,950) is $50 light, West Virginia ($6,200) is $200 heavy — but the $7,450 table midpoint is out by $1,450, 7x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $4,000 is 18 hours at $220; $8,000 is 36. Over the 3-6 months recorded for a moderate dui / dwi, that is 4 to 8 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At South Dakota's own recorded figures, $13,050 buys 4.4 matters at the $2,950 simple median — or, counted in time, 47 implied hours against 16, a factor of 2.9 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the South Dakotacourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.