Work & commute · Whitewood

Work & commute in Whitewood, SD

Most working residents leave Whitewood for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Spearfish (35%), Rapid City (16%) and Sturgis (7%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

6 of 395 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 389 Whitewood residents head out of town to work, 6 work right here, and 125 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Whitewood.

389live here, work elsewhere

6live and work here

125work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Whitewood goes to work

Spearfish9 mi away

35%137

Rapid City34.1 mi away

16%63

Sturgis7.7 mi away

7%27

Deadwood6.6 mi away

6%24

Lead9.9 mi away

4%16

Belle Fourche17.7 mi away

3%12

Sioux Falls349 mi away

2%9

Whitewood (in town)right here

2%6

North Spearfish13.5 mi away

1%5

Selby190.4 mi away

1%2

Everywhere elseother towns and states

24%94

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

How far

How far Whitewood commutes

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

42%

30%

20%

42%Under 10 mi

30%10–24 mi

20%25–50 mi

8%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Whitewood is a commuter town

0.33jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Whitewood are

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

Jobs based in Whitewood

131 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)30%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)50%

$1,250 a month or less21%

$1,251–$3,333 a month39%

Over $3,333 a month40%

Jobs Whitewood residents hold

395 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)63%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month60%

+72%

Jobs based in Whitewood, 2013 → 2023: 76 → 131. 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.