The population of Ellsworth AFB is made up of service members, their families, and civilian employees. Its sister city Rapid City has a population of 62,500, and there are around 3,800 military retirees living in the area. The wing commander of Ellsworth Air Force Base has a staff comprised of a vice commander, executive officer, secretary, director of staff, wing inspector general, and a sexual assault response coordinator.
During the World War II, Ellsworth was the site of the operational readiness test of the B-1B. This test, locally called Dakota Challenge, took about six months to complete and was conducted in both peacetime and simulated wartime conditions. Both 28 BW and Ellsworth AFB passed the test with flying colors. The B-1B proved to be a dependable and capable weapons system and a mainstay of the heavy bomber fleet for years to come.
The base's demographics are derived from data gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, which is updated annually. The data is only as accurate as the data is available from the U.S. Census Bureau. Residents of Ellsworth Afb are likely to use their own vehicles and ride motorcycles. They are not likely to use public transportation to get to work.
The study area includes multiple roadways, which carry varying volumes of traffic. Several existing databases collected traffic data and were supplemented by additional counts in spring 2014. Ellsworth Road, Liberty Boulevard, Tower Road, Commercial Gate Drive, and Radar Hill Road carry between three and ten thousand vehicles per day. The remainder of the roadways have less than 3,000 vpd.