Photo: "Tichnor Quality Views," Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Made Only by Tichnor Bros., Inc., Boston, Mass. · Public domainMadison has lower household incomes than 65% of U.S. towns
Madison grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 9.5% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 11.9% for South Dakota as a whole. About half work in Madison itself; outside it, Sioux Falls draws the most (13%, 37 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Madison in brief
Madison’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Madison is Sioux Falls, 37 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (415) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Madison 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.
What’s behind Madison’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Madison is better than 33% of U.S. towns, #33 of 35 in South Dakota. The poverty rate holds Madison’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Madison could be anywhere from D to B.
How far Madison’s workers travel
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 3.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Madison workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,804 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.
How a workday changes Madison
On a workday 1,644 residents head out to work, 1,504 work right here, and 2,236 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,700 people are in Madison on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.19 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.
Out of Madison to work: where people go
Where Madison 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.
Goods jobs make up 28% of work in Madison
3,740 jobs are based in Madison.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Madison, 2013 → 2023: 3,534 → 3,740. 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 Madison’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Madison is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Madison is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #7 of 35 in South Dakota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,053 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). 5.1% of Madison households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Madison’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,448th of 3,444: where Madison ranks among U.S. towns of 4,200 to 8,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 286 | Tea SD | 8,019 | $120K | 4.7% | 2.0% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 382 | Big Sioux Township SD | 5,152 | $128K | 3.2% | 2.7% | 28% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,344 | Rapid Valley SD | 6,975 | $83K | 4.5% | 4.3% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,446 | Chestertown MD | 5,658 | $54K | 11.6% | 3.8% | 35% | C |
| 2,447 | Hinton OK | 4,975 | $65K | 18.9% | 2.0% | 23% | C |
| 2,448 | Madison SD | 6,065 | $66K | 9.5% | 4.4% | 48% | C |
| 2,449 | Lacy-Lakeview TX | 7,240 | $57K | 13.1% | 5.8% | 5% | C |
| 2,450 | Washington IA | 7,261 | $55K | 12.8% | 3.3% | 31% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,444 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Madison, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
How Madison compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Lake View Township (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Madison workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison | – | C | A− | 11 min | $65,593 |
| Lake View Township | 5% | — | — | 16 min | — |
| Herman Township | 1% | — | — | 12 min | — |
| Le Roy Township | under 1% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lake View Township, Herman Township and Le Roy Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Madison’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Madison: questions
What is the median household income in Madison?
$65,593 (±$9,132) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Madison?
9.5%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Madison?
11 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 Madison work?
48% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sioux Falls (13%, 37 mi), Brookings (7%, 26 mi), Lake View Township (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Madison walkable?
Madison is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Madison without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Madison, from the people who make the trip.
More of Madison
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.