Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs, income and commuting in Custer, SD
About one in three work in Custer itself; outside it, Rapid City draws the most (21%, 28 miles). Jobs and income earn Custer C; getting around on foot earns it B. A typical one-way commute lasts 19 minutes, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Custer
Why Custer gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Custer is better than 28% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Custer’s grade up ($78,369, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Custer could be anywhere from D to B.
Miles to work from Custer
About 15% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Who leaves Custer for work, and who comes in
On a workday 533 residents head out to work, 276 work right here, and 798 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Custer on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.33 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Out of Custer to work: where people go
Where Custer clocks in
21% of workers
5% 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.
Jobs in Custer: what the 1,074 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Custer, 2013 → 2023: 987 → 1,074. 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 Custer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Custer: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Custer workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 942 commuters (the 8% 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.
Most trips from Custer start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Custer is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Custer near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,025 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). 2.3% of Custer households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Custer’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Custer ranks: 3,302nd of 5,343 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Delapre Township SD | 2,053 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 106 | Springdale Township SD | 2,229 | $151K | 1.3% | 0.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 243 | Mapleton Township SD | 2,063 | $111K | 2.4% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,300 | Dolgeville NY | 1,992 | $68K | 10.9% | 1.9% | 14% | C |
| 3,301 | Verona PA | 2,396 | $49K | 13.8% | 8.2% | 5% | C |
| 3,302 | Custer SD | 1,803 | $78K | 14.2% | 4.0% | 34% | C |
| 3,303 | Schroon NY | 1,818 | $70K | 7.7% | 1.5% | 27% | C |
| 3,304 | Missouri Ridge Township ND | 1,662 | $125K | 32.2% | 3.1% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Custer, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
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 Custer: questions
What is the median household income in Custer?
$78,369 (±$11,105) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Custer?
14.2%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Custer?
19 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Custer work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rapid City (21%, 28 mi), Hot Springs (5%, 25 mi), Sioux Falls (3%, 344 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Custer walkable?
Custer is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Custer without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Custer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Custer
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.