Pennington County, SD jobs, unemployment and layoffs

Pennington County’s unemployment rate is 1.7%. No layoff notices here in the last 12 months. 55 open professional jobs are in its cities.

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Pennington County economy

1.7%
unemployment, Sep 2026
1.8% the month before
59,596
in the labor force
Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics
112,081
people in Pennington County
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
$70,768
median household income
Source: Census ACS
39%
of workers in white-collar occupations
Management, business, financial and professional; Census ACS

Where Pennington County ranks

Where Pennington County placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.

November 2026

#4Counties with the most job centers per unemployed person in the Midwest10.0 per 10,000 · of 100
#6Counties with the lowest unemployment in the Midwest1.7% · of 100
#10Counties with the lowest unemployment1.7% · of 100
#21Counties with the most job centers per unemployed person10.0 per 10,000 · of 100

Pennington County outlook: Building

Built from public Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census figures. It describes the area, not any one employer in it.

Private-sector jobs up 4.7% from 2022 to 2025
Population up 6.6% from 2020 to 2025
Unemployment 1.7%, down 0.1 points from a year ago
Sectors adding the most jobs: health care (+897 jobs), construction (+630 jobs)

Local job-market news

Recent headlines about layoffs, AI and jobs in Pennington County. Each link goes to the publisher.

Poll: Voters split on Thune and Trump job performanceSouth Dakota News Watch · Oct 28, 2026

Learn and get funded in Pennington County

Which AI skills each kind of job asks for, with the pay premium.
Your local workforce board and American Job Centers: training vouchers and re-employment help.
Grants and funding for job seekers, ranked for your state and situation.
Unemployment benefits by state, if you are between jobs.

Pennington County layoffs

No layoff notices naming Pennington County in the last 12 months are on file. The WARN Act covers employers with 100 or more workers, so smaller layoffs are not in it.

All layoff notices in the state

Employers hiring most in Pennington County

Employers with the most open professional roles in this county’s cities. The county is taken from each job’s city, so roles with no city are not counted.

State of South Dakota6 open roles
Army National Guard Units2 open roles
Dialysis Clinic2 open roles
Marshfield Clinic2 open roles
Mastec2 open roles
Quanta Services2 open roles
Sanford2 open roles
Waste Connections2 open roles
Aligned Climate Capital1 open role
American Civil Constructors1 open role

Colleges in Pennington County

Colleges in Pennington County
College	City	Type	Students
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology	Rapid City	Public 4-year	1,000–4,999

Workforce development and job centers

The public workforce board and American Job Centers serving Pennington County. They offer free help with job search, training and filing for benefits.

Laid off in South Dakota? How to file for unemployment in South Dakota (steps, weekly amount and the appeal deadline).

South Dakota Workforce Development Council
Serves all of South Dakota

Rapid City American Job Center
Rapid City · Comprehensive · 605-773-3372
8:00am - 5pm M-W & Fri; 9am - 5pm Thur

Cities in Pennington County

Other South Dakota counties

All of South Dakota

Laid off or looking for work in Pennington County?

See what to do first and the jobs open near you.

See your options after a layoff

Sources: Census Bureau and BLS (county unemployment is not seasonally adjusted); layoff notices from South Dakota’s published record; job counts from our live job board; IPEDS for colleges; CareerOneStop for workforce boards and job centers. South Dakota unemployment benefits and severance rules.

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