Miller has lower household incomes than 78% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Miller C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. 7.6% of residents live below the poverty line (South Dakota 11.9%). About one in three stay in Miller for work; outside it, Miller Township is the main destination (7%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Miller: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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 ↓
Commutes from Miller 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; with 670 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Miller’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Miller is better than 22% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Miller’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Miller’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Miller could be anywhere from D to C+.
Half of Miller commutes less than 15 miles
About 34% 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.
From Miller, about 11 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Miller workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 589 commuters (the 5% 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.
Who leaves Miller for work, and who comes in
On a workday 438 residents head out to work, 232 work right here, and 442 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 (1.01 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 Miller to work: where people go
Where Miller 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.
Inside Miller’s 674 jobs
674 jobs are based in Miller.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Miller, 2013 → 2023: 776 → 674. 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 Miller’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miller 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, Miller is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 620 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). 11.0% of Miller households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Miller’s commuters take a bus or train.
Miller is 3,603rd of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 154 | Wall Lake Township SD | 1,210 | $129K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Jefferson Township SD | 1,207 | $196K | 2.0% | 3.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 200 | Crooks SD | 1,415 | $99K | 0.5% | 1.4% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,601 | Centreville MI | 1,374 | $60K | 13.9% | 6.1% | 8% | C− |
| 3,602 | Litchfield MI | 1,394 | $53K | 11.4% | 4.8% | 16% | C− |
| 3,603 | Miller SD | 1,313 | $58K | 7.6% | 0.0% | 35% | C− |
| 3,604 | Pine Bluffs WY | 1,111 | $68K | 10.6% | 0.7% | 12% | C− |
| 3,605 | Lyndon WI | 1,493 | $62K | 14.9% | 6.7% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Miller, 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 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 Miller: questions
What is the median household income in Miller?
$57,500 (±$11,841) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Miller?
7.6%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Miller?
11 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Miller work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Miller Township (7%, 2 mi), Huron (5%, 40 mi), St. Lawrence Township (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Miller walkable?
Miller is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Miller without a car?
1% 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 Miller, from the people who make the trip.
More of Miller
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.