Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.038% of Vermillion’s residents are college students
About half work in Vermillion; the top destination outside it is Sioux Falls (14%, 53 miles). Vermillion grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. The average commute takes 17 minutes each way; 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
Where Vermillion stands out on work
Vermillion’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Vermillion is Sioux Falls, 53 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (550) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A young workforce
32% of Vermillion’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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.
Why Vermillion gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On family income, poverty and job access, Vermillion is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #23 of 35 in South Dakota. Family income holds Vermillion’s grade up ($99,868, U.S. $99,999); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (25% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 11.0%, against 24.4% for all residents. Unemployment (8.5%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($99,868), since student households pull the household median down ($50,456).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Vermillion could be anywhere from C to B+.
Where in the region Vermillion works
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.
Most jobs in Vermillion are in services
4,469 jobs are based in Vermillion.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vermillion, 2013 → 2023: 4,445 → 4,469. 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 Vermillion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Vermillion
On a workday 2,096 residents head out to work, 1,903 work right here, and 2,566 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 (1.12 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.
The towns that employ Vermillion’s residents
Where Vermillion clocks in
6% of workers
3% 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 trip to work from Vermillion: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vermillion workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,773 commuters (the 6% 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: Vermillion
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Vermillion is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #4 of 35 in South Dakota. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 15.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.3% across South Dakota, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,166 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). 6.9% of Vermillion households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Vermillion’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Vermillion ranks: 1,777th of 2,695 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Harrisburg SD | 10,405 | $109K | 0.5% | 1.0% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 168 | Brandon SD | 11,306 | $111K | 1.4% | 1.2% | 17% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 294 | Tea SD | 8,019 | $120K | 4.7% | 2.0% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,775 | Duchouquet Township OH | 14,357 | $69K | 11.6% | 4.3% | 20% | C+ |
| 1,776 | Morro Bay CA | 10,613 | $96K | 8.4% | 8.0% | 19% | C+ |
| 1,777 | Vermillion SD | 11,720 | $50K | 24.4% | 8.5% | 48% | C+ |
| 1,778 | Cody WY | 10,377 | $73K | 9.5% | 3.4% | 66% | C+ |
| 1,779 | Patterson NY | 11,640 | $102K | 17.6% | 7.1% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Vermillion, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
Around Vermillion: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Vermillion Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Vermillion workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vermillion | – | C+ | A− | 17 min | $50,456 |
| Vermillion Township | 3% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| Fairview Township | under 1% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Vermillion Township and Fairview Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Vermillion’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.
- Students. 38% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Vermillion: questions
What is the median household income in Vermillion?
$50,456 (±$4,868) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vermillion?
24.4% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 11.0%. South Dakota: 11.9%.
How long is the commute from Vermillion?
17 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vermillion work?
48% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sioux Falls (14%, 53 mi), Yankton (6%, 25 mi), Sioux City (3%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vermillion walkable?
Vermillion is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vermillion without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vermillion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vermillion
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.