Box Elder is a medium-sized city located in the state of South Dakota. With a population of 13,887 people and two associated neighborhoods, Box Elder is the 11th largest community in South Dakota. Box Elder has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Box Elder, where the median household income is $74,160.00.

Box Elder is a military town: the armed forces employs 16.90% of the workforce, making the military a major focus of life in the city. In the civilian sector, Construction and Retail are important in the local economy and are the city’s largest civilian employers, employing 17.58% and 15.87% of the civilian workforce respectively.

Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 18.58 minutes getting to work every day.

The education level of Box Elder citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 34.22% of adults in Box Elder have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Box Elder in 2022 was $30,437, which is lower middle income relative to South Dakota and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $121,748 for a family of four. However, Box Elder contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Box Elder is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Box Elder home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Box Elder residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Box Elder also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 12.48% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Box Elder include German, Irish, English, Polish, and European.

The most common language spoken in Box Elder is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.