Deadwood Historic District · Photo: The original uploader was Gorilla Jones at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0Deadwood has lower household incomes than 96% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Deadwood are C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Below the poverty line: 6.7% of residents (South Dakota 11.9%). About two in five stay in Deadwood for work; outside it, Rapid City is the main destination (14%, 33 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Deadwood
Deadwood fills up on a workday
Deadwood has 2,492 jobs, 5.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,400 people are in town, more than double the 1,400 who live here. Day and night ↓
Deadwood’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Deadwood is Rapid City, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (72) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Nearly all the work in Deadwood is services
93% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 2% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
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 500 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Deadwood’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Deadwood is better than 25% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Deadwood’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($40,179, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (5.4%) is left out: Deadwood’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, Deadwood could be anywhere from D to C+.
Who works in Deadwood, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 299 residents head out to work, 201 work right here, and 2,291 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,400 people are in Deadwood on a workday afternoon, 146% more than live here.
5.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Miles to work from Deadwood
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.
In Deadwood, services account for most jobs
2,492 jobs are based in Deadwood.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Deadwood, 2013 → 2023: 2,489 → 2,492. 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 Deadwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Deadwood live
Where Deadwood clocks in
14% of workers
8% 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.
From Deadwood, about 14 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Deadwood workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 522 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.
For most of Deadwood, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Deadwood is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 5.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 567 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). 5.1% of Deadwood households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Deadwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Deadwood places 3,379th of 5,400 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,800
| # | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 3,377 | Fifth Street TX | 1,453 | $29K | 49.3% | 0.0% | 0% | C |
| 3,378 | Tower City PA | 1,434 | $68K | 13.7% | 5.4% | 3% | C |
| 3,379 | Deadwood SD | 1,360 | $40K | 6.7% | 5.4% | 40% | C |
| 3,380 | Neligh NE | 1,551 | $59K | 7.4% | 2.1% | 37% | C |
| 3,381 | Colchester Township IL | 1,511 | $64K | 9.9% | 2.9% | 11% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Deadwood, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
How Deadwood compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Lead (8%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Deadwood’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 Deadwood: questions
What is the median household income in Deadwood?
$40,179 (±$16,153) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Deadwood?
6.7%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Deadwood?
14 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 Deadwood work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rapid City (14%, 33 mi), Lead (8%, 3 mi), Sturgis (6%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Deadwood walkable?
Deadwood is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Deadwood without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Deadwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Deadwood
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.