St. Mary's School · Photo: Jatakuck · CC BY-SA 3.0Brookings draws more than half of Elkton’s working residents
Employers in Elkton report 308 jobs; 356 of its residents have a job. Only 4% work in Elkton itself; outside it, Brookings draws the most (52%, 16 miles). The average commute takes 16 minutes each way, 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
Where Elkton stands out on work
More than half of Elkton works in Brookings
186 working residents, 52%, have their main job in Brookings, 16 miles away. That’s 13 times as many as work in Elkton itself. The commute map ↓
Elkton makes and builds things
50% of the jobs based in Elkton are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Elkton residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 40%. 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 356 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Elkton goes to work
Where Elkton clocks in
Lines 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.
Elkton works in goods: 50% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elkton, 2013 → 2023: 264 → 308. 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 Elkton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Elkton by day and by night
On a workday 340 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 292 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.87 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.
About 16 minutes each way for Elkton’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elkton workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 464 commuters (the 6% 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 many miles Elkton commutes
About 20% 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.
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 Elkton: questions
What is the median household income in Elkton?
$69,688 (±$22,471) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elkton?
26.7%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elkton?
16 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elkton work?
4% work in town.
Can you get around Elkton 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 Elkton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elkton
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.