Work means Brookings for more than half of Medary Township’s working residents
Household incomes here are higher than in 82% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Medary Township is better than 64% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (B+). The trip to work takes 17 minutes on average, where South Dakota has 18 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Medary Township in brief
More than half of Medary Township works in Brookings
425 working residents, 56%, have their main job in Brookings, 5.3 miles away across the town line. That’s 56 times as many as work in Medary Township itself. The commute map ↓
Medary Township is a place people come home to
There are 108 jobs based in Medary Township, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Medary Township has about 920 people in it, 42% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Most Medary Township residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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 764 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Medary Township’s Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Medary Township’s grade up ($107,583, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (2.2%) is left out: Medary Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Medary Township could be anywhere from C to A−.
Commuting out of Medary Township: the destinations
Where Medary Township 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.
Who commutes out of Medary Township, and who commutes in
On a workday 757 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 101 people come in from elsewhere.
About 920 people are in Medary Township on a workday afternoon, 42% fewer than live here.
0.14 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How far Medary Township goes to work
About 16% 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.
Goods jobs make up 44% of work in Medary Township
108 jobs are based in Medary Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Medary Township, 2013 → 2023: 200 → 108. 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 Medary Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Medary Township: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Medary Township workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 684 commuters (the 15% 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.
Getting around Medary Township: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 6.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 809 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). 5.5% of Medary Township households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Medary Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,380th of 5,794: where Medary Township ranks among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 80 | Delapre Township SD | 2,053 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 184 | Wall Lake Township SD | 1,210 | $129K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 244 | Jefferson Township SD | 1,207 | $196K | 2.0% | 3.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,378 | Homer Township MN | 1,310 | $94K | 5.3% | 0.8% | <1% | B |
| 1,379 | Germantown NY | 1,890 | $98K | 6.8% | 4.6% | 13% | B |
| 1,380 | Medary Township SD | 1,579 | $108K | 6.7% | 2.2% | 1% | B |
| 1,381 | Dellona WI | 1,912 | $103K | 8.9% | 2.9% | 1% | B |
| 1,382 | Shell Rock IA | 1,252 | $79K | 5.0% | 2.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Medary Township, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
Work next door: 56% of Medary Township’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Medary Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medary Township | – | B | B+ | 17 min | $107,583 |
| Brookings | 56% | B | A− | 13 min | $63,493 |
| Trenton Township | under 1% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Fremont Township | under 1% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Oslo Township | under 1% | — | — | 23 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Trenton Township, Fremont Township and Oslo Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Brookings. Darker towns draw more of Medary Township’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 Medary Township: questions
What is the median household income in Medary Township?
$107,583 (±$31,660) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Medary Township?
6.7%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Medary Township?
17 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Medary Township work?
1% work in town.
Is Medary Township walkable?
Medary Township is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Medary Township without a car?
2% 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 Medary Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Medary Township
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.