Work, pay and getting to work in Parkston
The two grades for Parkston are C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in three stay in Parkston for work; outside it, Mitchell is the main destination (18%, 23 miles). Commuters spend 16 minutes getting to work 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
Jobs and commuting in Parkston: the gist
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Parkston
On income, poverty and job access, Parkston is better than 34% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Parkston’s grade up (7.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 10% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.3%) is left out: Parkston’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, Parkston could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Near or far: the trip to work from Parkston
About 28% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Parkston
On a workday 498 residents head out to work, 215 work right here, and 511 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 (1.02 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.
Where Parkston goes to work
Where Parkston 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.
The kinds of work in Parkston
726 jobs are based in Parkston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Parkston, 2013 → 2023: 730 → 726. 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 Parkston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 16 minutes in Parkston
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Parkston workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 863 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Parkston
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Parkston is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Parkston near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 905 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). 5.8% of Parkston households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Parkston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Parkston places 3,126th of 5,794 on jobs and income 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 3,124 | Wattsville VA | 1,439 | $69K | 8.1% | 8.8% | 3% | C |
| 3,125 | Brightwood VA | 1,325 | $71K | 10.0% | 5.6% | <1% | C |
| 3,126 | Parkston SD | 1,540 | $70K | 7.5% | 3.3% | 30% | C |
| 3,127 | Ripley Township IN | 2,064 | $66K | 10.6% | 2.6% | 2% | C |
| 3,128 | Matteson Township MI | 1,195 | $70K | 9.8% | 4.3% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Parkston, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
Work in the towns next to Parkston
The biggest share goes to Susquehanna Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Parkston workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parkston | – | C | A− | 16 min | $70,139 |
| Susquehanna Township | 2% | — | — | 6 min | — |
| Liberty Township | under 2% | — | — | 12 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Susquehanna Township and Liberty Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Parkston’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 Parkston: questions
What is the median household income in Parkston?
$70,139 (±$9,376) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Parkston?
7.5%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Parkston?
16 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 Parkston work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mitchell (18%, 23 mi), Sioux Falls (12%, 64 mi), Freeman (3%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Parkston walkable?
Parkston is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Parkston without a car?
0% 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 Parkston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Parkston
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.