Photo: John Lee Lopez · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Mobridge (0.9%) is lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
About half work in Mobridge itself; outside it, McLaughlin draws the most (6%, 26 miles). For jobs and income Mobridge is better than 34% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (A−). 3% of workers have no commute at all; South Dakota has 10%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Mobridge at work: what stands out
Most jobs in Mobridge go to people who live here
Of the 1,166 jobs based in Mobridge, 56% are held by Mobridge residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Many jobs in Mobridge pay little
28% of the jobs based in Mobridge pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Mobridge than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Mobridge fell from 1,592 in 2013 to 1,166 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.
Jobs & income in Mobridge: the grade in detail
Unemployment holds Mobridge’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mobridge could be anywhere from D to B−.
Who commutes out of Mobridge, and who commutes in
On a workday 783 residents head out to work, 658 work right here, and 508 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 (0.81 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.
The kinds of work in Mobridge
1,166 jobs are based in Mobridge.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mobridge, 2013 → 2023: 1,592 → 1,166. 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 Mobridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Mobridge goes to work
Where Mobridge clocks in
6% 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.
About 14 minutes each way for Mobridge’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mobridge workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,427 commuters (the 3% 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 far Mobridge’s workers travel
About 25% 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.
In Mobridge, walking beats the bus
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 7.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,475 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). 3.5% of Mobridge households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mobridge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Mobridge next to U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,300: 3,099th of 4,698 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Split Rock Township SD | 3,086 | $148K | 0.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 111 | Springdale Township SD | 2,229 | $151K | 1.3% | 0.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 421 | Dakota Dunes SD | 3,936 | $136K | 2.4% | 3.4% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,097 | West Wyoming PA | 2,678 | $66K | 13.6% | 6.0% | 2% | C |
| 3,098 | Maysville GA | 2,317 | $61K | 12.9% | 0.5% | 1% | C |
| 3,099 | Mobridge SD | 3,192 | $65K | 18.3% | 0.9% | 46% | C |
| 3,100 | Marcellus Township MI | 2,411 | $73K | 10.8% | 5.9% | 9% | C |
| 3,101 | Lick Township OH | 2,652 | $46K | 18.4% | 0.0% | 5% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,698 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Mobridge, 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 Mobridge: questions
What is the median household income in Mobridge?
$65,357 (±$15,507) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mobridge?
18.3%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mobridge?
14 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mobridge work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are McLaughlin (6%, 26 mi), Pierre (4%, 81 mi), Sioux Falls (3%, 229 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mobridge walkable?
Mobridge is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mobridge without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mobridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mobridge
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.