Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern Dance Pavilion · Photo: 25or6to4 · CC BY-SA 4.0At 8.7%, unemployment in Colonial Pine Hills is higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Colonial Pine Hills are B− for jobs and income and B for walkability. Measured by household income, Colonial Pine Hills is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns. 2% of workers have no commute at all, where South Dakota as a whole has 10%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Colonial Pine Hills at work: what stands out
More than half of Colonial Pine Hills works in Rapid City
550 working residents, 74%, have their main job in Rapid City, 6.2 miles away across the town line. That’s 74 times as many as work in Colonial Pine Hills itself. The commute map ↓
Most Colonial Pine Hills residents work close to home
77% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. How far ↓
Colonial Pine Hills is a place people come home to
There are 156 jobs based in Colonial Pine Hills, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. 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 748 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Colonial Pine Hills’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Colonial Pine Hills is better than 55% of U.S. towns, #17 of 35 in South Dakota. The poverty rate holds Colonial Pine Hills’ grade up (0.2%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Colonial Pine Hills could be anywhere from C+ to A.
74% of working residents work in Rapid City
Where Colonial Pine Hills clocks in
74% 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.
The distance from Colonial Pine Hills to work
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.
A workday in Colonial Pine Hills: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 741 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 149 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Colonial Pine Hills on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
0.21 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.
29% of the jobs in Colonial Pine Hills make or build things
156 jobs are based in Colonial Pine Hills.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Colonial Pine Hills, 2013 → 2023: 136 → 156. 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 Colonial Pine Hills’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes to work from Colonial Pine Hills
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Colonial Pine Hills workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,148 commuters (the 3% 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.
In Colonial Pine Hills, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Colonial Pine Hills is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns, #22 of 35 in South Dakota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 5.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,178 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). 4.2% of Colonial Pine Hills households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Colonial Pine Hills’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,083 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500, Colonial Pine Hills comes 2,067th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Split Rock Township SD | 3,086 | $148K | 0.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Delapre Township SD | 2,053 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Springdale Township SD | 2,229 | $151K | 1.3% | 0.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,065 | York NY | 3,163 | $80K | 15.0% | 1.6% | 9% | B− |
| 2,066 | Amesti CA | 2,818 | $109K | 13.4% | 4.8% | 4% | B− |
| 2,067 | Colonial Pine Hills SD | 2,609 | $99K | 0.2% | 8.7% | 1% | B− |
| 2,068 | Harveys Lake PA | 2,889 | $76K | 5.1% | 4.5% | 5% | B− |
| 2,069 | Somerset TX | 1,872 | $78K | 17.2% | 6.0% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Colonial Pine Hills, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
Work next door: 74% of Colonial Pine Hills’ workers
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Colonial Pine Hills workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colonial Pine Hills | – | B− | B | 21 min | $98,696 |
| Rapid City | 74% | B− | B+ | 18 min | $70,870 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Rapid City. Darker towns draw more of Colonial Pine Hills’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 Colonial Pine Hills: questions
What is the median household income in Colonial Pine Hills?
$98,696 (±$33,877) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Colonial Pine Hills?
0.2%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Colonial Pine Hills?
21 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Colonial Pine Hills work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rapid City (74%, 6 mi), Sioux Falls (4%, 330 mi), Box Elder (2%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Colonial Pine Hills walkable?
Colonial Pine Hills is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Colonial Pine Hills without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Colonial Pine Hills, from the people who make the trip.
More of Colonial Pine Hills
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.