Photo: Jerry Huddleston from Hampton, Minnesota, US · CC BY 2.0Sturgis’ household incomes are lower than in 82% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Sturgis is better than 40% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (A). 9.2% of residents are in poverty, next to 11.9% for South Dakota as a whole. 2% of workers work from home, next to 10% for South Dakota as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Sturgis apart
Sturgis’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Sturgis is Rapid City, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (640) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Sturgis workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 10% across South Dakota. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
The four measures behind Sturgis’ grade
Unemployment holds Sturgis’ grade up (3.0%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($54,404, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sturgis could be anywhere from C− to B+.
How far it is to work from Sturgis
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.
Commuting from Sturgis: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sturgis workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,775 commuters (the 2% 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 many people are in Sturgis by day
On a workday 2,212 residents head out to work, 1,067 work right here, and 1,696 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 (0.84 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.
20% of working residents work in Rapid City
Where Sturgis clocks in
20% of workers
7% 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.
The kinds of work in Sturgis
2,763 jobs are based in Sturgis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sturgis, 2013 → 2023: 2,408 → 2,763. 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 Sturgis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Good to walk, short on transit: Sturgis
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 8.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,851 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). 13.5% of Sturgis households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Sturgis’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Sturgis is 2,127th among 3,229 U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 288 | Tea SD | 8,019 | $120K | 4.7% | 2.0% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 385 | Big Sioux Township SD | 5,152 | $128K | 3.2% | 2.7% | 28% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,329 | Rapid Valley SD | 6,975 | $83K | 4.5% | 4.3% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,125 | Salem Township IL | 8,785 | $65K | 12.2% | 3.2% | 34% | C+ |
| 2,126 | East Alton IL | 5,621 | $49K | 20.8% | 3.3% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,127 | Sturgis SD | 6,922 | $54K | 9.2% | 3.0% | 33% | C+ |
| 2,128 | Rhinelander WI | 8,242 | $51K | 12.8% | 1.0% | 42% | C+ |
| 2,129 | Dellwood MO | 4,825 | $73K | 21.7% | 6.5% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,229 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Sturgis, 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 Sturgis: questions
What is the median household income in Sturgis?
$54,404 (±$9,148) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sturgis?
9.2%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sturgis?
18 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sturgis work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rapid City (20%, 27 mi), Spearfish (7%, 17 mi), Deadwood (7%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sturgis walkable?
Sturgis is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sturgis without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sturgis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sturgis
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.