Photo: AlexiusHoratius · CC BY-SA 3.0About two in five of Canton’s working residents commute to Sioux Falls
About one in five work in Canton; the top destination outside it is Sioux Falls (43%, 18 miles). The two grades for Canton are C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Canton is behind 73% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Canton at work: what stands out
How Canton earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Canton is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #28 of 35 in South Dakota. The poverty rate holds Canton’s grade up (8.1%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($60,850, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Canton could be anywhere from C− to A−.
The towns that employ Canton’s residents
Where Canton 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 a workday changes Canton
On a workday 1,323 residents head out to work, 313 work right here, and 865 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Canton on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.72 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 Canton’s employers do
1,178 jobs are based in Canton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Canton, 2013 → 2023: 1,357 → 1,178. 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 Canton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes each way, longer than most of South Dakota
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Canton workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,360 commuters (the 9% 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.
How far it is to work from Canton
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.
Canton is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Canton is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #9 of 35 in South Dakota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,500 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). 1.2% of Canton households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Canton’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,873rd of 4,771: where Canton ranks among U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Split Rock Township SD | 3,086 | $148K | 0.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Springdale Township SD | 2,229 | $151K | 1.3% | 0.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 413 | Dakota Dunes SD | 3,936 | $136K | 2.4% | 3.4% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,871 | Petersburg IL | 2,125 | $56K | 15.7% | 1.4% | 16% | C+ |
| 2,872 | Sunset LA | 3,194 | $61K | 15.5% | 4.2% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,873 | Canton SD | 3,001 | $61K | 8.1% | 5.4% | 19% | C+ |
| 2,874 | Clifton TX | 3,523 | $65K | 9.5% | 4.0% | 25% | C+ |
| 2,875 | Acton ME | 2,735 | $79K | 7.8% | 4.6% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Canton, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
How Canton compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Canton Township (6%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Canton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canton | – | C+ | A− | 20 min | $60,850 |
| Canton Township | 6% | — | — | 28 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Canton Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Canton’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 Canton: questions
What is the median household income in Canton?
$60,850 (±$10,436) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Canton?
8.1%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Canton?
20 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Canton work?
19% work in town.
Is Canton walkable?
Canton is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Canton without a car?
3% 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 Canton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Canton
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.