Photo: Alanscottwalker · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer people are out of work in Fort Pierre (0.6%) than in 97% of U.S. towns
Fort Pierre grades B+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in seven work in Fort Pierre; the top destination outside it is Pierre (51%, 3 miles). The average commute, 17 minutes each way, matches the South Dakota norm.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fort Pierre: the figures worth knowing
Fort Pierre and Pierre trade workers both ways
Pierre is the top workplace for Fort Pierre residents (51%) and also where the most people who work in Fort Pierre come from (42% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Fort Pierre residents work close to home
72% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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 922 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Fort Pierre’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Pierre is better than 68% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Fort Pierre’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Pierre could be anywhere from C+ to A.
The towns that employ Fort Pierre’s residents
Where Fort Pierre clocks in
51% 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.
How far Fort Pierre’s workers travel
About 23% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Fort Pierre
On a workday 766 residents head out to work, 156 work right here, and 782 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 (1.02 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.
What Fort Pierre’s employers do
938 jobs are based in Fort Pierre.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Pierre, 2013 → 2023: 993 → 938. 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 Fort Pierre’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 17 minutes from Fort Pierre
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Pierre workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,206 commuters (the 7% 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.
Few in Fort Pierre walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Pierre is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Fort Pierre 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 1,294 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). 2.9% of Fort Pierre households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fort Pierre’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,313th of 5,404: where Fort Pierre ranks among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Delapre Township SD | 2,053 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Springdale Township SD | 2,229 | $151K | 1.3% | 0.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 267 | Mapleton Township SD | 2,063 | $111K | 2.4% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,311 | East Bernard TX | 2,256 | $98K | 5.2% | 5.9% | 11% | B+ |
| 1,312 | Cass Township OH | 1,784 | $98K | 7.0% | 0.0% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,313 | Fort Pierre SD | 2,166 | $70K | 5.6% | 0.6% | 17% | B+ |
| 1,314 | Genoa City WI | 2,866 | $81K | 5.6% | 4.8% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,315 | Garden Plain Township KS | 2,133 | $79K | 7.7% | 3.0% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | 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 Fort Pierre, 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 Fort Pierre: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Pierre?
$70,357 (±$24,206) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Pierre?
5.6%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Pierre?
17 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Pierre work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pierre (51%, 3 mi), Sioux Falls (5%, 190 mi), Mitchell (2%, 124 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Pierre walkable?
Fort Pierre is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Pierre without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Pierre, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Pierre
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.