Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0A job hub: Hill City has 1.8 jobs per working resident, and 508 people come in to work
A typical one-way commute lasts 25 minutes, where South Dakota has 18 and the U.S. 26. Employers in Hill City report 555 jobs for 309 working residents. About one in seven work in Hill City itself; outside it, Rapid City draws the most (39%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Hill City
Hill City and Rapid City trade workers both ways
Rapid City is the top workplace for Hill City residents (39%) and also where the most people who work in Hill City come from (20% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Hill City is where the jobs are
Hill City has 555 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Hill City workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 25 minutes each way, against 18 across South Dakota. Over a year that’s about 192 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical 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 309 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where the people who work in Hill City live
Where Hill City clocks in
39% of workers
2% 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.
Hill City by day and by night
On a workday 262 residents head out to work and 47 work right here.
About 1,200 people are in Hill City on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 25 minutes in Hill City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hill City workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 393 commuters (the 8% 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 kinds of work in Hill City
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hill City, 2013 → 2023: 535 → 555. 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 Hill City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Hill City
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 Hill City: questions
What is the median household income in Hill City?
$95,385 (±$14,381) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hill City?
2.6%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hill City?
25 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hill City work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rapid City (39%, 20 mi), Sioux Falls (4%, 342 mi), Custer (2%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Hill City 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 Hill City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hill City
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.