Commuting in South Dakota: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 11:43 AM
How much time do drivers in South Dakota spend on the road daily?
Map AI9/24/26, 11:43 AM
Commute Time Burden in South Dakota: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in South Dakota spend about 31 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 128 hours, about 5.3 full days, spent commuting. That is 32% less time on the road than the US average of 22.4 minutes each way, a difference of 7.1 minutes.
South Dakota holds about 0.3% of US's population but accounts for roughly 0.2% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in South Dakota would save about 51 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,584 at the same national wage assumption used above.
Area
One-Way Commute
Daily Round-Trip
Yearly Time Spent
Estimated Yearly Cost
Local Road Traffic (VPD)
South Dakota
15.3 min
30.7 min
128 hrs/yr
$3,961
353
US
22.4 min
44.8 min
187 hrs/yr
$5,790
1,355
The estimated yearly cost applies a single national rule of thumb (U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics average hourly earnings), not a measurement of wages in this area - treat it
as a rough estimate, not a paycheck figure. Local road traffic counts, vehicles per day
on non-highway roads, come from proprietary
Ticon and
TrafficZoom data.
On average, it takes
15.3
minutes to get to work in
South Dakota.
That's 32% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Among the top 3 fastest states in US
The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 9.7% work from home.
How People Get to Work in South Dakota
Car:
85.4%
Worked at Home:
9.7%
Walked:
3.1%
Other:
0.8%
Public Transportation:
0.5%unusually low
Bicycle:
0.3%
Motorcycle:
0.2%
Taxi:
0.1%
Public transit is unusually rare in South Dakota: 6.4 times less than the US average (0.5% vs 3.2%).
Commute Mode Trends in South Dakota, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in South Dakota get to work, as a share of all workers aged 16 and over, across 16 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) releases from 2009 to 2024. Each release is a 5-year estimate: the 2024 figures cover surveys taken from 2020 to 2024. Because neighboring releases share most of their survey years, the lines move gradually, and a sudden change such as the rise of remote work in 2020 spreads across several releases. Hover over or tap a line to highlight it, and use the legend to show or hide a mode. Driving starts hidden so the smaller modes stay readable.
Share of workers aged 16 and over, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show commute mode data by year
Year
Car
Worked at Home
Walked
Other
Public Transportation
Bicycle
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
87.6%
6.0%
4.5%
0.6%
0.5%
0.5%
0.3%
0.0%
2010
87.5%
6.0%
4.4%
0.7%
0.5%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
2011
87.5%
5.8%
4.5%
0.7%
0.6%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
2012
87.8%
5.7%
4.3%
0.7%
0.6%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2013
88.1%
5.6%
4.2%
0.7%
0.5%
0.6%
0.3%
0.1%
2014
88.3%
5.5%
4.1%
0.7%
0.5%
0.5%
0.2%
0.1%
2015
88.5%
5.6%
3.9%
0.7%
0.5%
0.6%
0.2%
0.0%
2016
88.7%
5.5%
3.8%
0.7%
0.5%
0.5%
0.2%
0.0%
2017
88.8%
5.6%
3.7%
0.7%
0.5%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
2018
89.0%
5.7%
3.5%
0.6%
0.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
2019
89.0%
5.9%
3.3%
0.6%
0.5%
0.4%
0.2%
0.1%
2020
88.1%
6.7%
3.5%
0.7%
0.5%
0.3%
0.1%
0.0%
2021
87.3%
7.7%
3.3%
0.7%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
0.1%
2022
86.7%
8.5%
3.1%
0.7%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2023
85.6%
9.3%
3.2%
0.8%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
2024
85.4%
9.7%
3.1%
0.8%
0.5%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2018 at 89.0%. Overall it fell from 87.6% in 2009 to 85.4% in 2024, down 2.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in South Dakota: its share of workers rose from 6.0% in 2009 to 9.7% in 2024, up 3.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 3.8 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Walking lost the most ground, falling from 4.5% to 3.1% of workers (down 1.4 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in South Dakota
What Time Do People Leave for Work in South Dakota?
The bars show when commuters in South Dakota leave home for work, as a share of everyone who commutes (people who work from home are not counted), from the 2024 ACS 5-year estimates. The thin violet marks show the U.S. for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMSouth Dakota4.1%The U.S.5.5%
4.1%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMSouth Dakota3.1%The U.S.4.0%
3.1%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMSouth Dakota5.1%The U.S.4.9%
5.1%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMSouth Dakota6.9%The U.S.8.7%
6.9%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMSouth Dakota11.3%The U.S.9.4%
11.3%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMSouth Dakota16.2%The U.S.14.4%
16.2%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMSouth Dakota19.9%The U.S.11.9%
19.9%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMSouth Dakota10.2%The U.S.11.5%
10.2%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMSouth Dakota3.7%The U.S.5.5%
3.7%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMSouth Dakota4.3%The U.S.6.8%
4.3%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMSouth Dakota2.0%The U.S.3.1%
2.0%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMSouth Dakota1.4%The U.S.1.5%
1.4%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMSouth Dakota6.1%The U.S.6.8%
6.1%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMSouth Dakota5.8%The U.S.6.1%
5.8%
South DakotaThe U.S.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in South Dakota is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 19.9% of commuters leave home, compared with 11.9% across the U.S.. Early starts are less common than in the U.S.: 12.2% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 14.4% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in the U.S.: 57.7% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 47.1% there. About 1 in 5 commuters (19.6%) leave at 9 AM or later, which usually points to shift work, flexible hours or part-time jobs.
When people leave matters as much as how far they go. Rush-hour traffic shrinks how much ground a 20-minute trip covers, so a trade area drawn as a simple circle often takes in neighborhoods that customers or staff would never drive from and misses others that are an easy trip. A drive-time zone, also called an isochrone, outlines every place within a set number of minutes of an address, which makes it the more honest way to size a store's catchment, a hiring area or the commute from a new home.
See it for yourself on the interactive map: click any spot in South Dakota, pick a 5, 10, 15 or 30-minute drive and see the local demographics of the people who live within that exact drive time.
Is South Dakota Waking Up Earlier? Typical Departure Time, 2009-2024
Each line follows the typical (median) departure time: the moment by which half of commuters have already left home. Higher on the chart means a later start. Setting South Dakota next to the U.S. shows whether local mornings are drifting earlier or later than everyone else's. The figures span 16 ACS 5-year releases, so changes build up gradually rather than jumping from one year to the next.
Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show typical departure times by year
Year
South Dakota
United States
2009
7:40 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:40 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:39 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:39 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:39 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:38 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:37 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:36 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:37 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:35 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in South Dakota were on the road by 7:35 AM, 5 minutes earlier than in 2009 (7:40 AM). Commuters in South Dakota now leave 3 minutes earlier than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in South Dakota has moved 2 minutes earlier. The 2024 release is the earliest typical start for South Dakota in the whole series.
How does South Dakota's commute time compare?
Metric
South Dakota
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
15.3 min
22.4 min
Work From Home
9.7%
15.0%
Walked
3.1%
2.4%
Public Transit
0.5%
3.2%
The average commute time in South Dakota is 15.3 minutes, shorter than the 22.4 minutes in US.
0.5% commute by public transit, lower than the 3.2% in US. 3.1% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in US.
South Dakota is the 5th largest of the 6 states compared here, 907,403 residents against a local median of 2,945,842. South Dakota sits close to the middle of its own neighbourhood. No measure below is more than 15% off the local median, so the choice between these states turns on things this data does not capture.
The largest of those small differences is work from home, 14% below the local median at 9.7% against 11.3%. South Dakota has the 5th highest work from home of the 6 areas compared here.
Commuters here spend an estimated 128 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $3,961 at a typical national wage. That's 32% less than the typical US commuter spends.
What time should you leave for work to avoid traffic in South Dakota?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in South Dakota. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Do people use public transit in South Dakota?
Public transit usage is significantly lower here than typical: about 0.5% of commuters use it versus 3.2% in the U.S., meaning a personal vehicle is essential for most workers.
Where are the quickest and slowest commutes among counties in South Dakota?
Among counties in South Dakota, the shortest average commutes are in Jones County (6.7 min), Bennett County (7.5 min), Jackson County (7.8 min). The longest are in Custer County (25.5 min), McCook County (25.4 min), Turner County (23.1 min).