Photo: skua47 · CC BY 2.0Wagner has lower household incomes than 91% of U.S. towns
15.7% of residents are in poverty, where South Dakota as a whole has 11.9%. Jobs and income earn Wagner D; getting around on foot earns it A−. Home is the office for 1% of workers (South Dakota 10%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Wagner, in brief
Wagner is where the jobs are
Wagner has 1,047 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Many jobs in Wagner pay little
30% of the jobs based in Wagner pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Wagner are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 18 across South Dakota. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical South Dakota worker. 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; with 508 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Wagner’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Wagner is better than 5% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Wagner’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (8.0%) is left out: Wagner’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, Wagner could be anywhere from D− to D.
How a workday changes Wagner
On a workday 291 residents head out to work, 217 work right here, and 830 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Wagner on a workday afternoon, 38% more than live here.
2.1 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Inside Wagner’s 1,047 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wagner, 2013 → 2023: 1,127 → 1,047. 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 Wagner’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 12 minutes from Wagner
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wagner workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 579 commuters (the 1% 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.
Commuting in to Wagner: where workers come from
Where Wagner clocks in
11% 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.
Wagner’s commute, mile by mile
About 24% 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.
Wagner is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wagner is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Wagner 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 584 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). 11.4% of Wagner households have no vehicle (South Dakota 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Wagner’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, and where Wagner sits
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 169 | Wall Lake Township SD | 1,210 | $129K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 221 | Jefferson Township SD | 1,207 | $196K | 2.0% | 3.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 227 | Crooks SD | 1,415 | $99K | 0.5% | 1.4% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,295 | Sherburne NY | 1,359 | $45K | 19.6% | 5.7% | 12% | D |
| 5,296 | Holly Hill SC | 1,280 | $34K | 38.6% | 3.4% | 7% | D |
| 5,297 | Wagner SD | 1,422 | $47K | 15.7% | 8.0% | 43% | D |
| 5,298 | Emory TX | 1,413 | $37K | 29.1% | 3.1% | 6% | D |
| 5,299 | Pembroke Township IL | 1,856 | $32K | 18.0% | 10.8% | 6% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Wagner, the top three, the last and three more from South Dakota.
How Wagner compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Bryan Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wagner workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wagner | – | D | A− | 12 min | $47,462 |
| Bryan Township | 4% | — | — | 12 min | — |
| Lawrence Township | under 2% | — | — | 14 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Bryan Township and Lawrence Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wagner’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 Wagner: questions
What is the median household income in Wagner?
$47,462 (±$5,911) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wagner?
15.7%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wagner?
12 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wagner work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dante (11%, 6 mi), Sioux Falls (7%, 85 mi), Bryan Township (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wagner walkable?
Wagner is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wagner without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wagner, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wagner
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.