Ellis is an unincorporated community in south central Minnehaha County, South Dakota, United States. Ellis is located about 1 mile west of the Sioux Falls city limits on Ellis Road, or 1.5 miles north of South Dakota Highway 42. The Ellis & Eastern Railroad is based in Ellis, running 14.5 miles to Brandon to the east. In 1995, the two largest commodities carried by trains were non-metallic minerals and chemicals, mostly for factories near Sioux Falls.