Oglala’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Measured by household income, Oglala is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 68.8% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.9% across South Dakota. For jobs and income Oglala is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Oglala’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Oglala is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Oglala’s grade.
Unemployment (26.5%) is left out: Oglala’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Oglala stays D−.
Who leaves Oglala for work, and who comes in
On a workday 161 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 74 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.
0.46 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.
Where Oglala goes to work
Where Oglala clocks in
3% of workers
2% 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.
What work there is in Oglala: 74 jobs
74 jobs are based in Oglala.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oglala, 2013 → 2023: 5 → 74. 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 Oglala’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Oglala: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oglala workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 270 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 Oglala’s workers travel
About 21% 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.
Few in Oglala walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 278 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). 28.6% of Oglala households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oglala’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Oglala compares with U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Wall Lake Township SD | 1,210 | $129K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Jefferson Township SD | 1,207 | $196K | 2.0% | 3.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 198 | Baltic SD | 1,344 | $108K | 1.2% | 2.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,131 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
| 3,132 | Prewitt NM | 1,027 | $19K | 54.4% | 24.7% | 2% | D− |
| 3,133 | 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 Oglala, 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 Oglala: questions
What is the median household income in Oglala?
$21,330 (±$1,265) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oglala?
68.8%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oglala?
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 Oglala work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Batesland (4%, 31 mi), Wounded Knee (3%, 18 mi), Rapid City (2%, 66 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oglala walkable?
Oglala is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oglala without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 29% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oglala, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oglala
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.