Making a living in Hazel
Commuters spend 23 minutes getting to work on average; South Dakota averages 18, the U.S. 26. Home is the office for 1% of workers, against 10% across South Dakota. Only 2% work in Hazel; the top destination outside it is Lake Norden (20%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Hazel on a workday afternoon
On a workday 50 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 38 people come in from elsewhere.
About 93 people are in Hazel on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 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 Hazel goes to work
Where Hazel clocks in
16% 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.
Hazel makes things: 69% of its jobs are in goods
39 jobs are based in Hazel.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hazel, 2013 → 2023: 2 → 39. 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 Hazel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Hazel: about 23 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hazel workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 108 commuters (the 1% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Hazel
About 24% 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 Hazel: questions
What is the median household income in Hazel?
$117,250 (±$17,395) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hazel?
1.0%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hazel?
23 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hazel work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lake Norden (20%, 15 mi), Watertown (16%, 15 mi), Sioux Falls (12%, 90 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Hazel without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hazel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hazel
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.