Photo: Teresa Fazio · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Buffalo Gap works elsewhere
Hardly any stay in Buffalo Gap for work; outside it, Rapid City is the main destination (42%, 40 miles). Employers in Buffalo Gap report 19 jobs, against 36 working residents. Home is the office for 17% of workers; South Dakota has 10%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who works in Buffalo Gap, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 36 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 19 people come in from elsewhere.
About 140 people are in Buffalo Gap on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
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 Buffalo Gap: the destinations
Where Buffalo Gap clocks in
42% of workers
22% of workers
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.
The kinds of work in Buffalo Gap
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buffalo Gap, 2013 → 2023: 9 → 19. 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 Buffalo Gap’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Buffalo Gap: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buffalo Gap workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 53 commuters (the 17% 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 from Buffalo Gap, by distance
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.
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 Buffalo Gap: questions
What is the median household income in Buffalo Gap?
$54,063 (±$52,893) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buffalo Gap?
1.5%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buffalo Gap?
27 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buffalo Gap work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rapid City (42%, 40 mi), Custer (22%, 24 mi), Hot Springs (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Buffalo Gap 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 Buffalo Gap, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buffalo Gap
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.