Work means Rapid City for more than half of Piedmont’s working residents
Hardly any work in Piedmont itself; outside it, Rapid City draws the most (58%, 13 miles). Piedmont grades C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Piedmont is behind 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Piedmont, in a few figures
More than half of Piedmont works in Rapid City
257 working residents, 58%, have their main job in Rapid City, 13 miles away. That’s 58 times as many as work in Piedmont itself. The commute map ↓
Piedmont is a place people come home to
There are 104 jobs based in Piedmont, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Piedmont has about 900 people in it, 27% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 446 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Piedmont
On income, poverty and job access, Piedmont is better than 38% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Piedmont’s grade up (7.3%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($53,866, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Piedmont’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, Piedmont could be anywhere from C− to B.
Commuting out of Piedmont: the destinations
Where Piedmont clocks in
58% of workers
6% 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.
How many people are in Piedmont by day
On a workday 443 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 101 people come in from elsewhere.
About 900 people are in Piedmont on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.23 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.
The 104 jobs based in Piedmont
104 jobs are based in Piedmont.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Piedmont, 2013 → 2023: 63 → 104. 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 Piedmont’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Piedmont’s commute takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Piedmont workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 484 commuters (the 4% 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.
Miles to work from Piedmont
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 Piedmont, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Piedmont is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 21.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 5.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 506 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). 0.0% of Piedmont households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Piedmont’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Piedmont ranks: 2,303rd of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 137 | Wall Lake Township SD | 1,210 | $129K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 174 | Jefferson Township SD | 1,207 | $196K | 2.0% | 3.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Crooks SD | 1,415 | $99K | 0.5% | 1.4% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,301 | Caledonia MS | 1,117 | $83K | 10.2% | 1.0% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,302 | Bay City OR | 1,388 | $83K | 8.5% | 3.3% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,303 | Piedmont SD | 1,245 | $54K | 7.3% | 1.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,304 | Pigeon Township IN | 1,007 | $116K | 11.8% | 1.1% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,305 | Dunkirk NY | 1,202 | $67K | 8.9% | 4.1% | 9% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Piedmont, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
How Piedmont compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Summerset (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Piedmont’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 Piedmont: questions
What is the median household income in Piedmont?
$53,866 (±$10,867) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Piedmont?
7.3%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Piedmont?
16 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Piedmont work?
1% work in town.
Is Piedmont walkable?
Piedmont is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 21% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Piedmont without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Piedmont, from the people who make the trip.
More of Piedmont
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.