Households in Fort Thompson earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Fort Thompson itself; outside it, Sioux Falls draws the most (7%, 137 miles). The poverty rate is 41.6%, against 11.9% across South Dakota. Fort Thompson grades D− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Fort Thompson: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Fort Thompson are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 18 across South Dakota. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical South Dakota worker. Time on the road ↓
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 228 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Fort Thompson’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Fort Thompson is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Fort Thompson’s grade.
Unemployment (10.5%) is left out: Fort Thompson’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Fort Thompson stays D−.
Fort Thompson’s commute, mile by mile
About 32% 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.
About 11 minutes each way, quicker than most of South Dakota
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Thompson workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 334 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Fort Thompson
On a workday 166 residents head out to work, 62 work right here, and 146 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 (0.91 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.
Where people from Fort Thompson work
Where Fort Thompson 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.
Fort Thompson is a services town
208 jobs are based in Fort Thompson.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Thompson, 2013 → 2023: 188 → 208. 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 Thompson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Fort Thompson is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Thompson is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 342 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). 17.5% of Fort Thompson households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fort Thompson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fort Thompson next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Wall Lake Township SD | 1,210 | $129K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 126 | Jefferson Township SD | 1,207 | $196K | 2.0% | 3.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Crooks SD | 1,415 | $99K | 0.5% | 1.4% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,733 | Cherryfield ME | 1,093 | $37K | 26.3% | 6.4% | 12% | D− |
| 3,734 | Keeler Farm NM | 1,376 | $44K | 50.4% | 27.3% | 1% | D− |
| 3,735 | Fort Thompson SD | 1,147 | $47K | 41.6% | 10.5% | 27% | D− |
| 3,736 | Marshall AR | 1,320 | $28K | 31.8% | 4.8% | 30% | D− |
| 3,737 | Edison GA | 1,145 | $29K | 40.6% | 13.6% | 7% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Fort Thompson, 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 Thompson: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Thompson?
$47,159 (±$11,052) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Thompson?
41.6%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Thompson?
11 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 Fort Thompson work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sioux Falls (7%, 137 mi), Gann Valley (5%, 20 mi), Chamberlain (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Thompson walkable?
Fort Thompson is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Thompson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Thompson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Thompson
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.