Lower Brule is a tiny town located in the state of South Dakota. With a population of 703 people and just one neighborhood, Lower Brule is the 104th largest community in South Dakota.
Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Lower Brule is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Lower Brule is a town of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Lower Brule who work in maintenance occupations (15.04%), teaching (13.01%), and community and social services (10.98%).
One of the benefits of Lower Brule is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 12.46 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.
The percentage of adults in Lower Brule with college degrees is slightly lower than the national average of 21.84% for all communities. 15.11% of adults in Lower Brule have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Lower Brule in 2022 was $12,035, which is low income relative to South Dakota and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $48,140 for a family of four. However, Lower Brule contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Lower Brule also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 52.75% of its population below the federal poverty line.
The people who call Lower Brule home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Lower Brule residents report their race to be Native American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Lower Brule include German, Irish, Polish, Ukrainian, and English.
The most common language spoken in Lower Brule is English. Other important languages spoken here include Native American languages and German/Yiddish.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
The government often provides some of the more stable jobs in the economy. From local, to state, to federal government workers, the government can also be a major employer. What NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed, is that the neighborhood in particular stands out when compared nationally for the proportion of its working residents who are employed by the government. At 20.8% of its workforce, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of government workers than 99.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Residents of the neighborhood have the pleasure of having one of the shortest commutes to work of any neighborhood in America. 74.4% of the residents have a commute time from home to work (one way) of less than fifteen minutes. This is a higher proportion of residents enjoying a short trip to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.1% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.
Uncrowded roads, rural America and space to be the individual you are. If you like these characteristics, this neighborhood may fit you. With just 5 residents per square mile, is less crowded than 98.1% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Of note, 59.7% of the children in this area live in poverty; an extraordinarily high percentage compared to other neighborhoods in the nation. In a nation where approximately one in four children grows up in poverty, this neighborhood stands out for the depth of the problem manifested here.
In addition, there is an especially high percentage of incarcerated people (1.9%) living in the neighborhood.
Our research shows that more people carpool to work here in the (22.4%) than in 95.4% of the neighborhoods in America.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Native American ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 89.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Native American ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 14.4% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Native American languages at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.8% of the neighborhoods in America.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Lower Brule are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 94.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 59.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 96.8% of U.S. neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the neighborhood, 33.8% of the working population is employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 31.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions (20.8%), and 17.9% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 95.7% of households. Some people also speak Native American languages (14.4%).
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Lower Brule, SD, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Native American (89.8%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (3.3%), and residents who report Irish roots (1.4%), and some of the residents are also of Polish ancestry (1.3%).
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (74.4% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (73.9%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (22.4%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.