Work means Rapid City for about two in three of Ashland Heights’ working residents
Working from home is the commute for 0% of workers, where South Dakota as a whole has 10%. For jobs and income Ashland Heights is better than 15% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (C−). Household incomes here are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Ashland Heights apart on work
More than half of Ashland Heights works in Rapid City
155 working residents, 69%, have their main job in Rapid City, 6.4 miles away. That’s far more as work in Ashland Heights itself. The commute map ↓
Ashland Heights is a place people come home to
There are 16 jobs based in Ashland Heights, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
Most Ashland Heights residents work close to home
74% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. How far ↓
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 224 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Ashland Heights
Job access by car holds Ashland Heights’ grade up (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (30.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (26.0%) is left out: Ashland Heights’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Ashland Heights could be anywhere from D to A−.
The places Ashland Heights commutes to
Where Ashland Heights clocks in
69% of workers
2% 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.
A workday in Ashland Heights: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 224 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 16 people come in from elsewhere.
About 900 people are in Ashland Heights on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.07 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Ashland Heights’ commute, mile by mile
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.
In Ashland Heights, 88% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
16 jobs are based in Ashland Heights.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashland Heights, 2013 → 2023: 16 → 16. 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 Ashland Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 17 minutes in Ashland Heights
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashland Heights workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 436 commuters (the 0% 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.
The commute in Ashland Heights is mostly behind the wheel
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.3% across South Dakota.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 436 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.0% of Ashland Heights households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ashland Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ashland Heights places 2,830th of 3,771 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Wall Lake Township SD | 1,210 | $129K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 126 | Jefferson Township SD | 1,207 | $196K | 2.0% | 3.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Crooks SD | 1,415 | $99K | 0.5% | 1.4% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,828 | Quincy WI | 1,212 | $42K | 9.0% | 0.5% | 2% | D |
| 2,829 | Alamosa East CO | 1,298 | $77K | 27.5% | 0.7% | 3% | D |
| 2,830 | Ashland Heights SD | 1,105 | $57K | 30.7% | 26.0% | 0% | D |
| 2,831 | New Philadelphia PA | 1,062 | $42K | 14.7% | 8.1% | 4% | D |
| 2,832 | Mulberry Grove Township IL | 1,114 | $57K | 13.2% | 2.4% | 6% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Ashland Heights, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
Next door to Ashland Heights
The biggest share goes to Box Elder (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ashland Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashland Heights | – | D | C− | 17 min | $57,353 |
| Box Elder | 2% | B− | C+ | 20 min | $73,008 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ashland Heights’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Ashland Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Ashland Heights?
$57,353 (±$40,619) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashland Heights?
30.7%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashland Heights?
17 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashland Heights work?
0% work in town.
Is Ashland Heights walkable?
Ashland Heights is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashland Heights without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashland Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashland Heights
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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.