Rushmore Region Workforce at a Glance

The Rushmore Region offers a robust, diverse workforce across Butte, Custer, Fall River, Lawrence, Meade, and Pennington counties, anchored by Rapid City and surrounding Black Hills communities. This page highlights the region’s available labor, skills, and training partnerships, presenting data on labor participation, industry mix, and talent pipelines. You’ll find high-level insights into where workers come from, which sectors are growing, and how schools, colleges, and employers are aligning to meet the needs of the region. For site selectors and investors, this information translates into faster hiring, stronger workforce alignment with your business plan, and clearer paths to scalable growth in the region.

Rushmore Region

78,888
Workforce
3.00%
Unemployment Rate
18,424
Veteran Population
52,775
Bachelor's Degree or Higher

Business and Workforce

There are 10,273 businesses in Rushmore Region, employing 107,935 workers and pulling from a labor force of 99,702 age 16 and above. 18,271 workers commute into Rushmore Region from outside the county or state. Key industries for the area include:

78,888 residents both live and work in/around Rushmore Region. The average travel time is 0.0 minutes. 6.57% people have a commute of less than 5 minutes while 2.63% commute 90 minutes or more each way. Of commuters, 76,651 drive alone, 9,006 carpool, and 408 take public transportation. 4,741 use other modes of transport such as motorcycle, bicycle, walking, etc. 8,889 residents work from home.

38,624 members of the workforce hold a high school diploma or GED. 21,439 have associates degrees, 33,914 have bachelor’s degrees, and 18,861 hold a graduate or professional degree.

Source: ESRI, 2026-09-09