Used plastic pallets in South Dakota

What the jobs data shows for South Dakota

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts private employers in South Dakota at 3,269 warehousing and storage jobs across 42 establishments in 2025, about 77.8 jobs per establishment.

• Minnehaha County: 2,930 warehousing jobs, 90% of South Dakota and 0.15% of the country, 88.8 times Pennington County.
• Pennington County: 33 warehousing jobs, 1.0% of South Dakota and 0.00% of the country, 1% of the size of Minnehaha County.
• Union County: 25 warehousing jobs, 0.76% of South Dakota and 0.00% of the country, 1% of the size of Minnehaha County.

South Dakota against the country

South Dakota's figures sit on the left and the national totals beside them, so each share and rank shows how much of the country's pallet work lands here.

What the ratios say

Disclosure rules in the BLS data hide small counties, so the county totals for South Dakota are a floor and not the whole of its 3,269 jobs.

• The three largest warehousing counties hold 91% of South Dakota's jobs in the line, and Minnehaha County alone holds 90%.
• The average warehouse in South Dakota employs 77.8 people where the national average is 81.5, a gap of 5 percent below it.
• Food manufacturing employs 3.32 people for every warehousing job in South Dakota; across the US the ratio is 0.93.
• South Dakota holds 0.61% of the nation's food manufacturing jobs and 0.17% of its warehousing jobs, so food is the heavier of the two lines here.
• Refrigerated space works out at 7,036 cubic feet for every warehousing job, against 2,098 nationally.
• The metro below accounts for 90% of the state's warehousing jobs, counting disclosed counties only.
• Minnehaha County's 2,930 warehousing jobs are more than the whole state total of 7 other states, the largest being Idaho at 2,445.
• Washington runs warehouses of nearly the same size, at 77.6 jobs per establishment against 77.8 here.
• For food manufacturing, Delaware is the closest match at 11,157 jobs, 291 above South Dakota's 10,866.
• The smallest county the BLS shows for South Dakota is Union County with 25 jobs; the largest has 117.2 times as many.
• If warehousing jobs were split evenly across 50 states, each would hold 2.0% of the total; South Dakota holds 0.17%, which is 0.09 times an even share.
• New Hampshire sits above South Dakota with 14 more warehousing jobs, and Idaho sits below with 824 fewer.

Where South Dakota ranks

South Dakota is one of the 8 smallest states by warehousing jobs. The median state has 23,211, so South Dakota is 19,941 jobs below it; California, the largest, has 236,923, or 72 times as many.

The pallet-using lines in South Dakota

By location quotient South Dakota leans hardest on meat and poultry processing (4.0x the national share). Wash-down plants need clean, crack-free decks. Ask whether any pallet has been repaired, since a weld bead holds residue.

• Meat and poultry processing: 6,460 jobs in South Dakota, 1.2% of the 556,647 across the US, or 1.98 for every warehousing job in the state.
• Dairy product manufacturing: 1,510 jobs in South Dakota, 0.90% of the 168,222 across the US, or 0.46 for every warehousing job in the state.
• Food manufacturing: 10,866 jobs in South Dakota, 0.61% of the 1,775,008 across the US, or 3.32 for every warehousing job in the state.

The ladder around South Dakota

States are ranked by warehousing and storage jobs. South Dakota is 43rd of 50; the table shows the two states above it and the two below.

Metros we list in South Dakota

One metro in South Dakota has a page with ZIPs, counties and corridors.

Paperwork to keep

• The written lot description and the date it was sent.
• Your own count, signed and dated by whoever received the load.
• Photographs of stacks, plates and any marks, stored with the order number.
• The maker's papers for resin, colour or rating, where the job needs them.
• A line naming who agreed to which exceptions, so a later dispute has a record.

What to write down about a lot

• Footprint in both units, with the readings you took rather than the label.
• Number of stacks, pallets per stack and any odd stacks left over.
• Makers and model numbers seen on plates or moulded into the ribs.
• Count of repaired, mismatched or cracked pieces, and where each sits.
• Marks, colours and any smell, with a note on who confirmed each.

What to put on a request from South Dakota

USDA counted 23 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse space in South Dakota on 1 October 2025, 29th among the states; ask the maker how a pallet behaves frozen.

• Ask for like new or used and clean in 48 x 40 in
• Write the South Dakota ZIP where the lot will land
• Say how many pallet-loads, or whether you need a truck

Other states

• Arkansas
• California
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• Missouri
• New Mexico
• North Dakota
• Texas
• West Virginia

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