City market profile
Rapid City, SD OT job market
Compare Rapid City, SD using BLS occupational therapist wage, employment, density, and concentration data from the May 2025 OEWS release.
Metro rank #237$96,000 mean wage80 OT jobs1.06 location quotient
Market snapshot
How Rapid City, SD compares for occupational therapists
The OT Index city score balances pay, role depth, role density, and occupational concentration. The wage and job-market measures stay visible so readers can understand the rank.
Our take
Rapid City, SD OT market assessment
Why it stands out
- A 1.06 location quotient means OT work is at least as concentrated locally as it is nationally, supporting the idea that this is an established OT market.
- 1 other South Dakota metros create realistic nearby alternatives if the first offer or setting is not a fit.
Tradeoffs that matter
- Mean pay is $30 below the metro midpoint in this dataset, so the market does not compensate for other weaknesses with above-typical wages.
- 80 estimated jobs is below the metro midpoint of 130. A thinner market can make specialty searches and employer changes harder.
What to compare next
- Compare Rapid City, SD directly with Sioux Falls, SD-MN: the wage and job-count gap shows whether staying in the same state materially changes your options.
- Use the South Dakota state profile to tell whether this metro is carrying the state or benefiting from a stronger market elsewhere.
- Compare the setting mix behind the job count. A metro dominated by schools or home health may be a poor fit even when total OT employment looks healthy.
Methodology
Why this metro scores where it does
Metro rankings are most useful when the score is read beside the raw measures. A high-wage city can still have a shallow market, while a dense market can still have weaker pay.
Mean annual wage40%
BLS OEWS mean annual wage for the metro.
Employment depth25%
Log-scaled employment count so deeper markets count without letting the largest metros dominate.
Employment density20%
Occupational therapist jobs per 1,000 local jobs.
Job concentration15%
BLS location quotient, which compares the local concentration of OT jobs with the national labor market.
Nearby comparisons
Other South Dakota metro markets
Compare this metro against nearby labor markets before using a single city score to make a relocation or negotiation decision.
| Metro | Score | Mean wage | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sioux Falls, SD-MN Rank #176; 1.38 LQ | 40.4 | $85,400 | 260 |
Rapid City, SD is a role-specific choice rather than a broadly strong OT market at #237. No single labor measure is exceptional, so its position comes from being reasonably balanced across the model. 80 jobs make the market thinner than the typical metro, which can limit switching options.