Hyden House · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0How Alcester works: jobs, income and commuting
Employers in Alcester report 355 jobs for 322 working residents. About one in ten work in Alcester; the top destination outside it is Sioux Falls (26%, 36 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 15 minutes, where South Dakota has 18 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Alcester
Alcester’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Alcester is Sioux Falls, 36 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (85) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Alcester makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Alcester are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Alcester residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 25%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 322 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Alcester
About 15% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Alcester works in goods: 43% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alcester, 2013 → 2023: 310 → 355. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Alcester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Alcester, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 293 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 326 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.10 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Alcester: the destinations
Where Alcester clocks in
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
How long Alcester spends getting to work: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alcester workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 388 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across South Dakota: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Alcester: questions
What is the median household income in Alcester?
$57,000 (±$5,520) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alcester?
12.4%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alcester?
15 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alcester work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sioux Falls (26%, 36 mi), Beresford (18%, 8 mi), Sioux City (4%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Alcester without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alcester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alcester
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.