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Place dossier plate
SheetSD-VERMILLION-SD · Vermillion, SD 11,800 pop · income 24th pct · 3 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Vermillion
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Vermillion on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Smithfield · lowest
37,827
Smithfield · lowest
37,827 median HH income
33.8% of the leader · rank #1
Blue Lake · near
52,813
Blue Lake · near
52,813 median HH income
47.1% of the leader · rank #2
Witt · near
52,813
Witt · near
52,813 median HH income
47.1% of the leader · rank #3
Geneva · near
52,813
Geneva · near
52,813 median HH income
47.1% of the leader · rank #4
Eldon · near
52,813
Eldon · near
52,813 median HH income
47.1% of the leader · rank #5
Vermillion · this city
52,815
Vermillion · this city
52,815 median HH income
47.1% of the leader · rank #6
Sussex · highest
112,031
Sussex · highest
112,031 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Vermillion on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 11,800.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Vermillion - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Vermillion places in the 24th percentile for household income and the 51st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
24th
percentile, household income
46th
percentile, home value
13th
percentile, median rent
51st
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Vermillion, SD
11,800 people live in Vermillion, South Dakota - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Vermillion brings in $52,815 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 6.9%. Vermillion's housing stock carries a median value of $210,200, and the median resident age is 22.9 years. About 50.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 60.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 19 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Growing), up 12% from five years earlier. Vermillion reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1346.0 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 48.8°F with 28.0 inches of precipitation per year.
Living costs in South Dakota run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts South Dakota at 88.6 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $990 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $200 across South Dakota, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 26.8 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Vermillion's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from reported crime to population change to within-city variation to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Vermillion, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Vermillion?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1346.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 41% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Is Vermillion growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -3 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 19 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
What can 3 Census tracts reveal inside Vermillion?
PlainCities matches 3 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Vermillion?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within South Dakota, the closest population matches are Box Elder (12,457 residents, $73,698 income); Spearfish (12,551 residents, $59,731 income); Brandon (10,996 residents, $104,806 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Irmo, SC (11,799 residents); Smithfield, NC (11,798 residents); Evanston, WY (11,803 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Vermillion?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 71.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
71.5%
Work from home
7.0%
Public transit
0.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 5,716 workers age 16+.
What physical conditions frame life in Vermillion?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 48.8°F, with 28.0 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for South Dakota is 26.8 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
26.8
Annual precipitation
28.0 in
Mean temperature
48.8°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Vermillion?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.0×
Home value
$210,200
Household income
$52,815
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Vermillion?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 50.6% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
6.9%
Bachelor's degree+
50.6%
Matched public schools
4
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, South Dakota average
C
City profile score · Vermillion, SD
58/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A+
88.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share A-
50.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate C-
6.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C-
182 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$52,815
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Vermillion profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 91/100 (A+) · 88.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 84/100 (A-) · 50.6%
Poverty rate: 53/100 (C-) · 6.9%
Violent crime: 51/100 (C-) · 182 /100k
Household income: 24/100 (F) · $52,815
Where Vermillion sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Vermillion's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Vermillion highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Vermillion, SD (this city): home $210,200, crime 1,346/100k
Irmo, SC : home $193,100, crime 1,807/100k
Smithfield, NC : home $217,000, crime 4,054/100k
Evanston, WY : home $236,400, crime 2,022/100k
Salem, OH : home $117,400, crime 1,595/100k
Box Elder, SD : home $271,800, crime 1,542/100k
Spearfish, SD : home $309,200, crime 2,087/100k
Brandon, SD : home $317,300, crime 448/100k
Pierre, SD : home $219,500, crime 2,496/100k
Huron, SD : home $164,700, crime 1,805/100k
Yankton, SD : home $202,300, crime 2,242/100k
How does Vermillion compare to other US cities?
Here's how Vermillion stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income24% higher than other cities
Home value46% pricier than other cities
Median rent13% pricier than other cities
Safety51% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at South Dakota, Vermillion ranks #19 of 34 South Dakota cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Vermillion against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to South Dakota only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
South Dakota-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Vermillion near the bottom of South Dakota's cities
Among the 303 South Dakota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Vermillion ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Vermillion only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#206 of 285
28th percentile in South Dakota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 303
0th percentile in South Dakota
Median Home Value
#56 of 263
79th percentile in South Dakota
Poverty Rate
#138 of 302
54th percentile in South Dakota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#6 of 303
98th percentile in South Dakota
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within South Dakota only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
24th percentile nationally for median household income · 51st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Vermillion's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Vermillion's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Vermillion's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$210,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 54% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Vermillion's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,648 of 15,516
More affordable than 31% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,971 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.0×, Vermillion sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,648 of 15,516 and #1,971 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$52,815Vermillion, SD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Vermillion, SD median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Vermillion, SD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)50.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
11,800
Median Income
$52,815
Median Home Value
$210,200
Median Age
22.9
Poverty Rate
6.9%
Labor force participation
60.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
50.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1346.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
181.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1164.3
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
48.8°F
Annual Precipitation
28.0"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Vermillion's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
11,723 residents
2021
11,856 residents
2022
11,908 residents
2023
11,950 residents
2024
11,843 residents
2025
11,720 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Growing
Total Permits (2024)
19
housing units authorized
Single-Family
9
detached homes
Multifamily
10
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
17
17
0
$7.1M
2020
58
14
44
$11.0M
2021
12
12
0
$3.3M
2022
12
12
0
$3.1M
2023
27
11
16
$4.2M
2024
19
9
10
$3.6M
Permit volume increased 12% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
71.5%
Carpool
5.2%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
13.1%
Work from Home
7.0%
Other
2.8%
Based on 5,716 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
South Dakota statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $200
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across South Dakota at $200 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are South Dakota statewide averages, not a meter reading for Vermillion. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
South Dakota's BEA cost-of-living index is 88.6 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Vermillion is $990/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to South Dakota statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 26.8 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a South Dakota statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Vermillion sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Vermillion compares to similar-size South Dakota cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.