Brookings

Population & Demographics

Brookings, SD

Brookings is home to 23,948 people. Explore its demographics, housing, and economy — plus how its 11,046 resident workers commute each day.

South DakotaCensus ACS 5-Year · LODES 2023
23,948
people
Population

23,948 residents

Median age 24.7 · U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year (2024).

Brookings population & demographics

Who lives in Brookings — population, age, housing, and income, from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population
23,948
Median age
24.7yrs
Median household income
$63,493
Median home value
$265,500
Median gross rent
$889/mo
Bachelor’s degree or higher
47.5%
Poverty rate
16.9%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 5-Year Estimates. Values shown as “—” are suppressed or unavailable for this place.

Race & ethnicity in Brookings

How Brookings breaks down by race and ethnicity — each bar is that group’s share of the population, from the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year (2024).

White86.2%
Asian4.6%
Hispanic or Latino4.2%
Two or more races3.0%
Black1.2%
American Indian / Alaska Native0.8%

Race across Brookings

Each dot is a group of people, placed in their 2020 Census block and colored by race or ethnicity — the pattern shows where groups live across Brookings.

Brookings at a glance
Employed Residents
11,046
Fewer than the city’s total population
Median home–work distance
53.3mi
Straight-line, not road distance
Work Locally
62.2%
Share working within the area
Work from home
10.4%
Residents who work from home (ACS)
Top destination outside city
Sioux Falls
Excludes local — most work in-city

These figures are for Brookings proper — the Census place within its city limits — not the surrounding metro area. Metro-wide totals you’ll see elsewhere are larger because they bundle in neighboring cities and suburbs.

How Brookings commutes

Every dot is a worker moving between home and job. Trace where the area pulls people in from — and where its residents head each day.

95
Commute Score

95 / 100

How short the typical commute is here, on an absolute 0–100 scale (higher is shorter). How it’s calculated.

Brookings

11,046 commutes, one dot at a time

Brookings

Where 11,046 workers commute

Each dot ≈ 75 workers

Where residents work

Top destinations for people who live in Brookings, by worker count.

1Brookings0.0 mi6,874
2Sioux Falls53.3 mi1,451
3Watertown44.5 mi214
4Madison26.1 mi129
5Aberdeen115.4 mi106
6Elkton15.9 mi104
7Rapid City320.3 mi103
8Volga6.8 mi97

Who commutes in

Top origin places for workers who travel into Brookings.

1Brookings0.0 mi6,874
2Sioux Falls53.3 mi927
3Volga6.8 mi573
4Watertown44.5 mi285
5Aberdeen115.4 mi267
6Aurora5.3 mi267
7Madison26.1 mi220
8Elkton15.9 mi197

Top industries

The sectors that employ Brookings’s workforce. Each bar is scaled to that sector’s share of all local jobs — the top sectors shown don’t add up to 100%.

Bar length = each sector’s share of all local jobs (0–100%)
MFManufacturing25.9%
EDEducational Services19.2%
AFAccommodation and Food Services10.2%
RTRetail Trade9.8%
HCHealth Care and Social Assistance8.3%
PTProfessional, Scientific, and Technical Services3.8%
FIFinance and Insurance3.1%
OSOther Services (except Public Administration)3.0%
COConstruction2.9%
Connectivity

Internet options for Brookings

The biggest home-internet providers in the area — tap any to compare local plans.

8 providers · 1 with fiber
Speed availabilityshare of homes a plan reaches
1 Gbps~all homes
2 Gbps
5 Gbps
8 Gbps
See all internet providers in Brookings

FindBetterInternet is a CensusFlow partner site — we link out so you can compare local plans, and CensusFlow’s Census data stays independent. Provider data is from the FCC National Broadband Map (satellite + fixed wireless excluded).