Parkston is a very small city located in the state of South Dakota. With a population of 1,535 people and just one neighborhood, Parkston is the 78th largest community in South Dakota.
Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Parkston is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Parkston is a city of sales and office workers, service providers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Parkston who work in sales jobs (11.65%), management occupations (10.07%), and office and administrative support (9.87%).
Parkston is a good choice for families with children because of several factors. Many other families with children live here, making it a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families. The city’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic success. Many people own their own single-family homes, providing areas for children to play and stability in the community. Finally, Parkston’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the country, making it one of the safest places to raise a family.
One of the benefits of Parkston is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 15.89 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.
Being a small city, Parkston does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The citizens of Parkston are slightly better educated than the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns, with 24.71% of adults in Parkston having a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Parkston in 2022 was $32,457, which is middle income relative to South Dakota and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $129,828 for a family of four. However, Parkston contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Parkston home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Parkston residents report their race to be White, followed by Native American. Important ancestries of people in Parkston include German, Irish, Czech, Norwegian, and European.
The most common language spoken in Parkston is English. Other important languages spoken here include German/Yiddish and Spanish.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
Each year, fewer and fewer Americans make their living as farmers, foresters, or fishers. But the neighborhood truly stands out among U.S. neighborhoods. According to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, this neighborhood has a greater proportion of farmers, foresters, or fishers than 96.8% of all American neighborhoods. This is truly a unique cultural characteristic of this neighborhood.
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Residents of the neighborhood have the pleasure of having one of the shortest commutes to work of any neighborhood in America. 61.4% of the residents have a commute time from home to work (one way) of less than fifteen minutes. This is a higher proportion of residents enjoying a short trip to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.6% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.
There is an especially high percentage of incarcerated people (1.2%) living in the neighborhood.
In addition, with a nice mix of college students, safety from crime, and decent walkability, the neighborhood rates highly as a college student friendly place to live, and one that college students and their parents may want to consider. NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that it rates more highly for a good place for college students to live than 86.4% of the neighborhoods in SD. This often also means that the area has certain amenities and services geared towards college students, from undergraduates to graduate students.
Unpopulated, and rural, the neighborhood is one of the least crowded neighborhoods in all of America. If you like open space, no traffic, and lots of room, this neighborhood may be just what you are looking for. According to NeighborhoodScout's leading research, this neighborhood is less densely populated than 95.2% of the neighborhoods in America.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more German and Czechoslovakian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 55.4% of this neighborhood's residents have German ancestry and 1.1% have Czechoslovakian ancestry.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Parkston are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 46.3% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 2.1% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 74.6% of America's neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 33.0% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 25.4% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (21.7%), and 15.0% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.1% of households.
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Parkston, SD, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (55.4%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (9.8%), and residents who report Norwegian roots (4.9%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (3.0%), along with some Dutch ancestry residents (2.6%), among others.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (61.4% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (83.4%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (9.0%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.