Work & commute · Lake Preston

Work & commute in Lake Preston, SD

Most working residents leave Lake Preston for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Brookings (15%), Sioux Falls (11%) and Arlington (9%). Half commute less than 29 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

8 of 236 working residents

Typical commute

29 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

11%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 228 Lake Preston residents head out of town to work, 8 work right here, and 128 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lake Preston.

228live here, work elsewhere

8live and work here

128work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lake Preston goes to work

Brookings29.4 mi away

15%35

Sioux Falls65.1 mi away

11%26

Arlington12 mi away

9%21

De Smet8.7 mi away

4%10

Huron41.2 mi away

4%10

Lake Norden17.1 mi away

4%9

Madison27.9 mi away

4%9

Watertown39.4 mi away

4%9

Lake Preston (in town)right here

3%8

Erwin9.3 mi away

2%5

Everywhere elseother towns and states

40%94

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Lake Preston commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

14%

25%

35%

26%

14%Under 10 mi

25%10–24 mi

35%25–50 mi

26%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lake Preston is a commuter town

0.58jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.58 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Lake Preston are

136 jobs are based in Lake Preston. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake Preston’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lake Preston

136 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities32%

Services (health, schools, offices…)60%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month57%

Jobs Lake Preston residents hold

236 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)33%

Trade, transport & utilities24%

Services (health, schools, offices…)43%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month64%

−26%

Jobs based in Lake Preston, 2013 → 2023: 185 → 136. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.