Photo: devriesm · CC BY 2.0Fewer people are out of work in Hot Springs (1.8%) than in 87% of U.S. towns
Hot Springs grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About half stay in Hot Springs for work; outside it, Rapid City is the main destination (9%, 47 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 14 minutes, next to 18 for South Dakota and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Hot Springs stands out on work
Hot Springs’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Hot Springs is Rapid City, 47 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (127) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Hot Springs workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 10% across South Dakota. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Hot Springs’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hot Springs is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #34 of 35 in South Dakota. Unemployment holds Hot Springs’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hot Springs could be anywhere from D to C+.
Near or far: the trip to work from Hot Springs
About 22% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 14 minutes each way for Hot Springs’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hot Springs workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,304 commuters (the 4% 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.
Hot Springs by day and by night
On a workday 688 residents head out to work, 675 work right here, and 1,063 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,000 people are in Hot Springs on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Hot Springs’ residents
Where Hot Springs clocks in
9% of workers
4% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Hot Springs
1,738 jobs are based in Hot Springs.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hot Springs, 2014 → 2024: 1,577 → 1,738. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hot Springs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Hot Springs
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hot Springs is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #14 of 35 in South Dakota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,362 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). 10.8% of Hot Springs households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hot Springs’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,000, Hot Springs ranks 3,191st of 4,318 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Split Rock Township SD | 3,086 | $148K | 0.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 433 | Dakota Dunes SD | 3,936 | $136K | 2.4% | 3.4% | 15% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 441 | Hartford SD | 3,635 | $100K | 5.5% | 0.9% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,189 | Fairmount IN | 2,670 | $52K | 25.7% | 2.6% | 7% | C |
| 3,190 | Amite City LA | 4,081 | $45K | 11.2% | 4.8% | 23% | C |
| 3,191 | Hot Springs SD | 3,670 | $66K | 21.1% | 1.8% | 50% | C |
| 3,192 | Penrose CO | 4,087 | $88K | 11.3% | 7.1% | 6% | C |
| 3,193 | Moulton AL | 3,436 | $58K | 13.0% | 4.6% | 14% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,318 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Hot Springs, 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 2024, 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 Hot Springs: questions
What is the median household income in Hot Springs?
$66,338 (±$7,402) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hot Springs?
21.1%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hot Springs?
14 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hot Springs work?
50% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rapid City (9%, 47 mi), Pierre (4%, 170 mi), Sioux Falls (3%, 338 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Hot Springs walkable?
Hot Springs is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hot Springs without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hot Springs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hot Springs
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.