South Dakota

• Broadly in line with U.S. norms across income, poverty, education, and age.

• Largest sector: Health Care and Social Assistance employs 71,645 workers (24.4% of the tracked sectors), at an average wage of $70,713.
• Economic scale: State GDP of $76.8B (2024).

• Top specialization: Animal Production and Aquaculture concentrates at 5.68x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity.
• Cluster depth: 10 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base across the state.
• Attraction whitespace: 7 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5, candidates for diversification or recruitment.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.4x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• Elevated vacancy: 10.5% vacancy rate; potential redevelopment opportunity.

• Short commutes: 17.8-minute mean commute is a quality-of-life and labor-access advantage for site selectors.

South Dakota shows strong potential for animal production and aquaculture attraction, with a 5.68x concentration and 4,530 jobs in this sub-sector.

Cluster depth across animal production and aquaculture, miscellaneous manufacturing, and gasoline stations and fuel dealers creates supply-chain attraction leverage, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.