Lake Andes Carnegie Library · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Jobs and earnings in Lake Andes, and the trip to work
4% of workers have no commute at all, next to 10% for South Dakota as a whole. About one in seven work in Lake Andes itself; outside it, Wagner draws the most (19%, 14 miles). Working residents average 16 minutes each way, next to 18 for South Dakota and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Lake Andes: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Lake Andes than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Lake Andes fell from 353 in 2013 to 257 in 2023, −27%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
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 202 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How far it is to work from Lake Andes
About 30% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
257 jobs are based in Lake Andes.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Andes, 2013 → 2023: 353 → 257. 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 Lake Andes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Lake Andes: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 177 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 232 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 (1.27 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 Lake Andes goes to work
Where Lake Andes clocks in
19% of workers
11% 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.
About 16 minutes to work from Lake Andes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Andes workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 300 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.
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 Lake Andes: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Andes?
$47,500 (±$17,659) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Andes?
36.2%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Andes?
16 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 Lake Andes work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wagner (19%, 14 mi), Dante (11%, 20 mi), Pickstown (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Lake Andes without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Andes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Andes
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.