Pratt & Cjolme Building · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Making a living in Platte
About one in three work in Platte; the top destination outside it is Platte Township (12%, 2 miles). Jobs and income earn Platte C−; getting around on foot earns it A. Commuters spend 8 minutes getting to work on average; South Dakota averages 18, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Platte: the figures worth knowing
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Platte
On income, poverty and job access, Platte is better than 17% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Platte’s grade up ($72,700, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Platte’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Platte could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Commuting from Platte: about 8 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 2.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Platte workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 595 commuters (the 8% 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 works in Platte, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 298 residents head out to work, 177 work right here, and 519 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Platte on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.47 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 Platte to work: where people go
Where Platte 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.
Jobs in Platte: what the 696 are
696 jobs are based in Platte.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Platte, 2013 → 2023: 772 → 696. 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 Platte’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Platte commutes less than 5 miles
About 27% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Platte
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Platte is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 8.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 648 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). 4.3% of Platte households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Platte’s commuters take a bus or train.
Platte next to U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700: 3,510th of 4,866 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 3,508 | Corning IA | 1,511 | $65K | 12.4% | 6.0% | 31% | C− |
| 3,509 | Sublette KS | 1,343 | $66K | 13.2% | 3.7% | 16% | C− |
| 3,510 | Platte SD | 1,230 | $73K | 14.7% | 1.0% | 37% | C− |
| 3,511 | Rutherford TN | 1,147 | $51K | 12.0% | 3.3% | 3% | C− |
| 3,512 | Markesan WI | 1,380 | $62K | 21.1% | 2.9% | 17% | 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 Platte, 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 Platte: questions
What is the median household income in Platte?
$72,700 (±$27,345) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Platte?
14.7%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Platte?
8 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Platte work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Platte Township (12%, 2 mi), Sioux Falls (5%, 106 mi), Forbes Township (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Platte walkable?
Platte is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Platte 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 Platte, from the people who make the trip.
More of Platte
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.