Photo: AlexiusHoratius · CC BY-SA 3.0More than half of Baltic’s working residents commute to Sioux Falls
Jobs and income earn Baltic A−; getting around on foot earns it B−. Household incomes here are higher than in 82% of U.S. towns. Only 2% work in Baltic; the top destination outside it is Sioux Falls (55%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Baltic, in a few figures
More than half of Baltic works in Sioux Falls
374 working residents, 55%, have their main job in Sioux Falls, 15 miles away. That’s 28 times as many as work in Baltic itself. The commute map ↓
Baltic is a place people come home to
There are 163 jobs based in Baltic, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Baltic has about 820 people in it, 39% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 684 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Baltic
On income, poverty and job access, Baltic is better than 85% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Baltic’s grade up (1.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 40% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.7%) is left out: Baltic’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Baltic could be anywhere from A− to A.
The towns that employ Baltic’s residents
Where Baltic clocks in
6% 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 many people are in Baltic by day
On a workday 671 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 150 people come in from elsewhere.
About 820 people are in Baltic on a workday afternoon, 39% fewer than live here.
0.24 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.
What Baltic’s employers do
163 jobs are based in Baltic.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Baltic, 2013 → 2023: 111 → 163. 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 Baltic’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way for Baltic’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Baltic workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 769 commuters (the 7% 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.
Half of Baltic commutes less than 15 miles
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.
Baltic is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Baltic is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 5.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 827 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.4% of Baltic households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Baltic’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800, Baltic comes 391st on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 154 | Wall Lake Township SD | 1,210 | $129K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Jefferson Township SD | 1,207 | $196K | 2.0% | 3.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 200 | Crooks SD | 1,415 | $99K | 0.5% | 1.4% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 389 | St. George Township MN | 1,295 | $111K | 4.7% | 0.2% | <1% | A− |
| 390 | Litchfield CT | 1,220 | $110K | 6.1% | 6.5% | 3% | A− |
| 391 | Baltic SD | 1,344 | $108K | 1.2% | 2.7% | 2% | A− |
| 392 | Nekimi WI | 1,335 | $97K | 5.0% | 3.3% | 1% | A− |
| 393 | Thompson ND | 1,100 | $118K | 1.5% | 0.6% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Baltic, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
Work in the towns next to Baltic
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Baltic workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltic | – | A− | B− | 22 min | $107,768 |
| Sverdrup Township | 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Dell Rapids Township | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Sverdrup Township and Dell Rapids Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Sverdrup Township. Darker towns draw more of Baltic’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 Baltic: questions
What is the median household income in Baltic?
$107,768 (±$12,157) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Baltic?
1.2%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Baltic?
22 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Baltic work?
2% work in town.
Is Baltic walkable?
Baltic is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Baltic without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Baltic, from the people who make the trip.
More of Baltic
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.