Box Elder, SD population, income and ZIP codes

Box Elder city is a mid-size town in South Dakota, with 12,457 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #11 of 485 ranked by population — larger than 97% of them. The median age here is 28.6 years against 39.1 nationally, a distinctly younger profile, typical of places with students, military posts or a fast-growing family population. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in Box Elder city earn a median of $73,698 a year, 6.2% below the national figure of $78,538 and 13% above the $65,500 median for the 79 South Dakota cities we cover. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 7.4% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Box Elder city is valued at $271,800, 10.4% below the national figure and 41% above the $192,800 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,354 a month, 3.7% below the national figure, or roughly $16,248 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 22% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 3.7×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 48.7% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

A median age of 28.6 means a large student or early-career population; income medians in places like this understate household resources, since many residents are supported from outside the address.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.