Volga Auditorium · Photo: Jatakuck · CC BY-SA 3.0Volga has lower unemployment (1.4%) than 91% of U.S. towns
Only 8% stay in Volga for work; outside it, Brookings is the main destination (47%, 7 miles). Jobs and income earn Volga B+; getting around on foot earns it B+. A typical one-way commute lasts 15 minutes, next to 18 for South Dakota and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Volga in brief
Nearly half of Volga works in Brookings
539 working residents, 47%, have their main job in Brookings, 6.8 miles away. That’s 6 times as many as work in Volga itself. The commute map ↓
Volga has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Volga went from 342 in 2013 to 511 in 2023, +49%. The jobs ↓
Most Volga residents work close to home
63% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Volga’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Volga is better than 68% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Volga’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Volga could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Where Volga goes to work
Where Volga 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.
What work there is in Volga: 511 jobs
511 jobs are based in Volga.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Volga, 2013 → 2023: 342 → 511. 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 Volga’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Volga’s workers travel
About 20% 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.
How many people are in Volga by day
On a workday 1,056 residents head out to work, 90 work right here, and 421 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Volga on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
0.45 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.
Volga’s commute takes about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Volga workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,173 commuters (the 10% 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.
The commute in Volga is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Volga is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Volga 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 1,310 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). 5.3% of Volga households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Volga’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,207 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300, Volga comes 1,357th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Split Rock Township SD | 3,086 | $148K | 0.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Delapre Township SD | 2,053 | $141K | 1.2% | 0.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Springdale Township SD | 2,229 | $151K | 1.3% | 0.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,355 | San Juan Bautista CA | 2,122 | $116K | 7.1% | 4.2% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,356 | Lexington MN | 3,081 | $75K | 8.6% | 4.7% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,357 | Volga SD | 2,458 | $79K | 6.1% | 1.4% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,358 | East Bernard TX | 2,256 | $98K | 5.2% | 5.9% | 11% | B+ |
| 1,359 | West Galena Township IL | 3,143 | $66K | 6.3% | 0.0% | 30% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Volga, 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 Volga: questions
What is the median household income in Volga?
$78,828 (±$11,107) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Volga?
6.1%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Volga?
15 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Volga work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brookings (47%, 7 mi), Sioux Falls (9%, 55 mi), Volga Township (3%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Volga walkable?
Volga is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Volga without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Volga, from the people who make the trip.
More of Volga
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.