57706 — Box Elder, South Dakota

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 57706. Its median household income runs 22% below Box Elder as a whole, which is why this ZIP carries a profile of its own.

52out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 27% of 3,113 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 15 sources
OpportunityTop 42% of 3,116 ZIP areas measured58
GrowthTop 21% of 3,124 ZIP areas measured66
Housing affordability2,640th of 3,112 ZIP areas measured47
Climate3,015th of 3,127 ZIP areas measured54
Physical resilience2,681st of 3,127 ZIP areas measured21
Access1,714th of 3,127 ZIP areas measured90
Economic stabilityTop 33% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured64
The quick read

Unemployment is 2.0% and median household income $57,162, putting employment conditions in the middle range of ZIP areas measured. The unemployment rate is published for Box Elder, SD, which contains 57706, rather than for 57706 alone.

73 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 10% of the prior year — steady rather than turning. The permit count and 1 other measure here are published for Box Elder, SD, which contains 57706, rather than for 57706 alone.

Rent takes 31% of renter income here, at or above the threshold conventionally called cost-burdened.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
2,787
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$57,162
Bottom 25% nationally
Density
454/sq mi
6.1 sq mi of land
Median age
21.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Box Elder
South Dakota
Metro area
Nearest major airport
RAP
8 mi · Rapid City Rgnl
Median home value
—

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Box Elder, SD, which contains 57706, is 2.0%, lower than in 99% of the 3,127 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment across Box Elder, SD, which contains 57706, fell 2.3% over the past year, to 16,169 employed residents.

41% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 80% of measured US ZIP areas.

Median household income of $57,162 is lower than in 75% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsMeade County, SD’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$57,36827th percentileof 2,996filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftMeade County, SD’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$53,25915th percentileof 2,996filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$14,3672024 ACS 5-Year$57,162Bottom 25%of 31,0492024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,2512024 ACS 5-Year$24,521Bottom 12%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year1.9%Top 8%of 32,8462024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±6.9 min2024 ACS 5-Year11.5 minTop 2%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±17%2024 ACS 5-Year40.9%Top 20%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±64%2024 ACS 5-Year65.4%20th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentBox Elder, SD’s figureJuly 202616,169Bottom 13%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Box Elder, SD’s figureJuly 2026+0.1%Top 47%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Box Elder, SD’s figureJuly 2026−2.3%Bottom 15%of 3,127July 2026
Labor forceBox Elder, SD’s figureJuly 202616,49112th percentileof 3,127July 2026
Labor force participation ±15%2024 ACS 5-Year79.9%Top 43%of 32,8832024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageRapid City, SD Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$57,850Bottom 14%of 2,7602025 OEWS
Median annual wageRapid City, SD Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$46,270Bottom 16%of 2,7602025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.6%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Box Elder, SD’s figureJuly 2026+0.2%Bottom 34%of 3,127July 2026
Unemployment rateBox Elder, SD’s figureJuly 20262.0%Top 1%of 3,127July 2026
Worked from home ±9%2024 ACS 5-Year7.1%36th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202461k57k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $57,162 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

Largest occupations — Rapid City, SD

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons3,090$33,350
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,860$29,440
Registered Nurses2,480$79,380
Cashiers1,980$30,460
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks1,720$46,810
Stockers and Order Fillers1,580$37,150

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Box Elder, SD, the city containing this ZIP code.

50% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 58% in reading, across the schools here that reported results. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Box Elder, SD, which contains 57706, rather than for 57706 alone.

There are 15.8 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places. The student-teacher ratio is published for Box Elder, SD, which contains 57706, rather than for 57706 alone.

Public schools
—
Students per teacher
15.8
Math proficiency
50.3%
Reading proficiency
58.0%

The proficiency and staffing figures above are for Box Elder, SD: too few schools in 57706 reported a usable figure on their own to weight one honestly.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against South Dakota’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 10% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 90.3, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Rapid City, SD Metro Area is up 45% over five years, and up 1.8% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,273, below the $1,738 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,273 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $50,900 a year, about 89% of the median household income here of $57,162.

The typical renter household here spends 31% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,738 a month.

Cost of living
90.3

Prices here run about 10% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Rapid City, SD Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
30.9%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
—
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,273
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,738
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
—

The figures above are measured against 57706’s median household income of $57,162, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Rapid City, SD Metro Area’s figure202390.3Top 12%of 2,7372023
Home price change (1 year)the Rapid City, SD Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+1.8%32nd percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Rapid City, SD Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+45.1%56th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Rapid City, SD Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+101.9%60th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 32,7502024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2742024 ACS 5-Year76440th percentileof 33,4602024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$970Top 25%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,770Top 41%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,273Top 34%of 3,031FY2026
Median gross rent ±$562024 ACS 5-Year$1,738Bottom 14%of 26,3962024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year30.9%Bottom 35%of 26,2472024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±102024 ACS 5-Year01st percentileof 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 32,9612024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year11.3%72nd percentileof 32,7882024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±872024 ACS 5-Year8637th percentileof 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

66/ 100
Top 21% of 3,124 published ZIP profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 73 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes. The multifamily share is published for Box Elder, SD, which contains 57706, rather than for 57706 alone.

At 5.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas. The permit rate is published for Box Elder, SD, which contains 57706, rather than for 57706 alone.

Units permitted
73
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.7
Top 29% nationally
Year over year
−10%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.3%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
47%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$57,368
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$53,259
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Pennington County, SD 1,073 people · 37% of arrivals
  2. Lawrence County, SD 203 people · 7.1% of arrivals
  3. Butte County, SD 50 people · 1.7% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Pennington County, SD 1,026 people · 37% of departures
  2. Lawrence County, SD 161 people · 5.8% of departures
  3. Butte County, SD 62 people · 2.2% of departures
  4. Minnehaha County, SD 46 people · 1.7% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for Meade County, SD. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Box Elder, SD, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 13°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 17.4 inches, including 48.5 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station RAPID CITY RGNL AP, 8.3 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND3.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year712024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals17.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals48.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals13°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year72024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year452024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals48°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
45
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
71
90th percentile index
Days above 100
7
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

21 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, wildfire and cold wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 44% of it.

WildfireHigh
Winter weatherElevated
HailModerate
LandslideModerate
Cold waveModerate
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate
Strong windModerate
TornadoModerate

Low or minimal exposure: ice storm, earthquake, heat wave, drought, avalanche, coastal flooding, tsunami, volcanic activity, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
21.2
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
9.5
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
38.8
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around 57706 (Meade County) rather than 57706 itself. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. A ZIP area is not a jurisdiction, so no department reports for one. Box Elder carries the figure where its department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown where the American Community Survey reports them, though not for this place. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest Rapid City Rgnl at 8 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±52%2024 ACS 5-Year94.2%Top 24%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle8 miTop 19%of 3,127NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle1Bottom 1%of 3,127NASR current cycle
No internet access ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year2.7%Top 17%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rapid City RgnlRAP8 mi8,701 ft
Alliance MuniAIA146 mi9,203 ft
Scottsbluff/Western Nebraska Rgnl/Wm B Heilig FldBFF160 mi8,279 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
52
Your Score
—

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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.

57706 vs Box Elder

How this ZIP area compares with Box Elder as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like — a gap here is a real difference between the two places, not two surveys disagreeing.

57706
Box Elder
Median household income: Box Elder is the more favorable of the two.
Median household income
$57,162
vs
$73,008
Per capita income: Box Elder is the more favorable of the two.
Per capita income
$24,521
vs
$33,308
Population density
454/sq mi
vs
870/sq mi
Median gross rent: Box Elder is the more favorable of the two.
Median gross rent
$1,738
vs
$1,491
Homeownership rate
0.0%
vs
48.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher: 57706 is the more favorable of the two.
Bachelor's degree or higher
40.9%
vs
28.0%
Poverty rate: 57706 is the more favorable of the two.
Poverty rate
1.9%
vs
8.2%
Median age
21.7
vs
28.8

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.