Hoffelt Drug Store · Photo: WikiSandie · CC BY-SA 4.0Work and commuting in Estelline
The average commute takes 21 minutes each way, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. About one in ten stay in Estelline for work; outside it, Watertown is the main destination (19%, 26 miles). Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers, next to 10% for South Dakota as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Estelline in brief
Short hops and long hauls from Estelline
About 27% 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.
A workday in Estelline: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 304 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 213 people come in from elsewhere.
About 700 people are in Estelline on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.73 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.
The towns that employ Estelline’s residents
Where Estelline clocks in
19% 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 kinds of work in Estelline
249 jobs are based in Estelline.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Estelline, 2013 → 2023: 229 → 249. 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 Estelline’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Estelline, about 21 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Estelline workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 398 commuters (the 2% 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.
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 Estelline: questions
What is the median household income in Estelline?
$78,438 (±$14,369) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Estelline?
7.6%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Estelline?
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 Estelline work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Watertown (19%, 26 mi), Brookings (11%, 20 mi), Sioux Falls (11%, 72 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Estelline without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Estelline, from the people who make the trip.
More of Estelline
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.