Seen from the air, cattle and buffalo ranches, wheat farms, timber lands and various mining operations color the quilted landscape of the Black Hills region in western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. In 2010, the seven South Dakota counties in the region were home to 189,485 residents. Nearly half the population lives in rural areas or in small towns nestled in the foothills and valleys where trade, tourism, timber and mining drive the local economy. The other half lives in either the region’s micropolitan community of Spearfish in the northern Hills or in the metropolis – Rapid City. Growth in the region throughout the past decade has averaged just over 1 percent per year. It has reflected a historic trend of depopulation in rural agricultural communities with growth in the micropolitan (Spearfish) and metropolitan (Rapid City) areas.
Metro Area Unemployment Rate Jumps to 5.1 Percent in February
The jobless rate in the Rapid City metropolitan area rose to 5.1 percent in February, continuing a five-month pattern of increases. The total number of unemployed (3,400) rose sharply while the size of the civilian labor force increased to 66,600. Over the last twelve months the leading growth sectors for employment continue to be Professional and Business Services (up 6.4 percent) and Education and Health (up 4.0 percent). Manufacturing is also growing (4.0 percent). Government employment shows no growth over the year. For more details and an overview of the economy in the Rapid City Metropolitan Statistical Area (Pennington and Meade counties), visit the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Updated April 25, 2012.)
Unemployment Mild in Black Hills Counties Compared to Nation
Employment in the Black Hills suffered mildly during the national recession, but experiences varied among the region’s counties between 2010 and 2011. Butte and Fall River, for example, witnessed a rise in total employment and a decline in unemployment rates.
Lawrence County added eight new jobs over the year, but saw its unemployment rate rise from 4.8 to 5.0 percent. Total jobs in Meade and Pennington Counties also declined, but without a significant change in the unemployment rate. Meanwhile, in Custer and Shannon counties, declines in total employment fed increases in the unemployment rate.
Throughout the region, county level unemployment rates ranged from a low of 4.8 percent in Butte County to a high of 12.6 percent in Shannon County in January, 2011.
Income Differences Sharpest in Metro Area
Median household income differences are greatest in the Rapid City metropolitan area, compared to more rural parts of the Black Hills. As depicted in this interactive map, data from the 2010 U.S. Census reveals that the region's highest income tracts are on the south and western sides of the Rapid City metro area. The lowest income areas are to the north and east of downtown and on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This data aligns with national studies of income inequality that show that income differences are highest in urban areas.
Personal Income and Government Benefits in the Black Hills
Across the United States, Americans derived 17.6 percent of their personal income from government benefits including Social Security, veteran’s benefits, food stamps, unemployment insurance, Medicare and more. In the Black Hills, as well as the rest of the country, this reliance on the government for personal income has grown over the last three decades. Using data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the New York Times provides an interactive, county-by-county map to show this change over time.
For Black Hills counties, the percent of personal income derived from government benefits (not including agricultural subsidies, student loans or other transfers), was:
Butte – 19.51%
Custer – 20.25%
Fall River – 26.74%
Lawrence – 18.41%
Meade – 15.11%
Pennington – 17.02%
Shannon – 42.98%
Natural Resources
Gold was the natural resource that attracted settlement to the Black Hills in the past. Though gold is still the most valuable mineral commodity, rare earth elements, critical components of high-technology and alternative energy devices such as wind turbines, lasers, and electric cars are the target of modern day mineral exploration in the region.
How Does RC Metro Area Compare to Other Urban Economies?
If new patents tell us something about how innovative a region is, how does the Rapid City metropolitan area compare to other urban areas across the United States? Check out this chart published in New Scientist in December 2010:
The beauty of the Black Hills, the quality of the area environment and access to outdoor recreation top the list of reasons people enjoy living in and visiting the region today. Today and for centuries past, Native Americans used the Hills to pray, conduct ceremonies, and gather plants.
Despite a sluggish economy across the nation, the total value of goods and services produced in the Rapid City metropolitan region grew by an estimated 2.6 percent in 2010. This growth followed a 0.6 percentage decline in 2009 (based on revised figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis). With this growth, the Rapid City metropolitan area ranked 133rd among the fastest-growing urban economies in the nation. Regionally, Rapid City surpassed Sioux Falls (up 2.3 percent), Billings (up 0.4 percent) and Casper (down 3.8 percent). Only Bismarck (which was up 5.1 percent), showed stronger growth.
In 2009, the BEA reported that the Rapid City metropolitan region's economy was led by financial services (up 3.1 percent), government (up 1.0 percent) and trade (up 0.5 percent) fueled the relative success of the metropolitan area’s businesses and government institutions. Meanwhile, all other sectors of the economy declined in the face of the national recession. The sharpest decreases were in transportation and utilities (down 0.9 percent) and durable goods manufacturing (down 0.5 percent), but even these decreases were relatively mild compared to the national trend.
For access to the September 13, 2011 data release from Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, click here. To compare this release to the February, 2011 release of 2009 data, click here. To find gross domestic product data for all metropolitan areas in the United States for 2007-2010, see this October, 2011 report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Residents of the Black Hills are slightly more likely to own their own home than Americans in general. But within the Hills, homeownership rates vary a great deal from county to county. Butte County had a 77.2 percent rate of homeownership in 2009 compared to Lawrence County’s 62.9 percent rate. In Shannon County, only 48.9 percent of households own their own home. Check out this interactive chart to see a county by county comparison of home ownership rates.
Tourism contributes approximately $1.76 billion annually to the South Dakota economy. Visitors come from around the world to see the state's attractions, particularly those in the Black Hills region, such as historic Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, and nearby state and national parks.
The South Dakota Department of Transportation provides information on highways, roads and rail transportation systems in its Fact Book 2012-2013. The report includes information on safety: three out of four fatal crashes, for example, take place on rural highways and roads in South Dakota. A map on page 41 shows which communities in the Black Hills and the state are served by public transportation. The report also details the sources of revenue for state transportation spending with historical information on South Dakota motor fuel taxes and a chart that compares South Dakota's taxes to those of neighboring states.
The Rapid City Regional Airport serves as the primary airport for a broad area that includes most of western South Dakota, as well as parts of Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Rapid City airport ranked 156th among the nation's airports with 284,126 passenger "emplanements" in 2010. This volume represented a 6.63 percent increase over 2009, and was almost exactly in line with the growth predicted in the airport's 2008 Master Plan. By contrast, passenger volume rose 12.67 percent in Casper, WY; 6.48 percent in Bismarck, ND; 6.98 percent in Sioux Falls, SD; 6.04 percent in Bozeman, MT; and 3.75 percent in Fargo, ND. In Billings, Montana, passenger volume fell by 2.31 percent. The May, 2008 Masterplan provides a wealth of information on the future growth of the airport. (The executive summary is available here. The full report is available here.)
