RANKING · 2025 ESTIMATES · 66 SHOWN OF 66

Most densely populated, South Dakota counties

South Dakota counties ranked by residents per square mile (2025). This list covers the 66 counties in South Dakota that qualify, ranked against each other statewide. The median across all 66 is 6.

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SAME RANKING BYCities States Metros

YEAR1990 2000 2010 2020 2025

RANKPLACESTATEPOPPOPULATION DENSITYVS 2000

01Minnehaha County, SDSD212,691264+43%

02Lincoln County, SDSD77,145134+220%

03▲2Brookings County, SDSD37,63548+33%

04▼1Davison County, SDSD20,06946+7%

05▼1Yankton County, SDSD23,63545+9%

06Codington County, SDSD29,56243+14%

07Pennington County, SDSD116,79242+32%

08Union County, SDSD17,40238+38%

09▲1Lawrence County, SDSD29,45937+35%

10▼1Clay County, SDSD15,03136+11%

11Hughes County, SDSD17,57024+7%

12Brown County, SDSD37,56122+6%

13Lake County, SDSD10,99320−3%

14Beadle County, SDSD19,62416+15%

15Turner County, SDSD9,31415+5%

16▲2Hamlin County, SDSD6,90014+25%

17▼1Bon Homme County, SDSD7,244130%

18▼1Moody County, SDSD6,63213+1%

19Grant County, SDSD7,53411−4%

20McCook County, SDSD5,96410+2%

21Roberts County, SDSD10,2559+2%

22Hutchinson County, SDSD7,4139−8%

23Meade County, SDSD30,7119+27%

24Charles Mix County, SDSD9,3038−1%

25Hanson County, SDSD3,4568+10%

26Walworth County, SDSD5,2177−13%

27Deuel County, SDSD4,4087−2%

28▲1Douglas County, SDSD2,8887−16%

29▲2Brule County, SDSD5,2786−2%

30▼2Todd County, SDSD8,8636−2%

31▼1Oglala Lakota County, SDSD13,3386–

32Kingsbury County, SDSD5,2846−9%

33Custer County, SDSD9,4316+30%

34Day County, SDSD5,4845−12%

35Marshall County, SDSD4,4265−3%

36Butte County, SDSD10,8565+19%

37▲4Fall River County, SDSD7,46740%

38▲4Clark County, SDSD4,0314−3%

39Sanborn County, SDSD2,3884−11%

40▼3Spink County, SDSD6,1554−17%

41▼1Miner County, SDSD2,2814−21%

42▲1Gregory County, SDSD4,0374−16%

43▲1Aurora County, SDSD2,8014−8%

44▼6Buffalo County, SDSD1,8024−11%

45Edmunds County, SDSD4,0224−8%

46Tripp County, SDSD5,7084−11%

47Jerauld County, SDSD1,6543−28%

48▲1Bennett County, SDSD3,3073−7%

49▼1Potter County, SDSD2,3773−12%

50Dewey County, SDSD5,4192−9%

51Lyman County, SDSD3,6942−5%

52▲1Faulk County, SDSD2,1782−18%

53▼1Hand County, SDSD3,1212−17%

54▲1Stanley County, SDSD3,0182+9%

55▼1McPherson County, SDSD2,3472−19%

56Campbell County, SDSD1,3772−23%

57▲2Mellette County, SDSD2,1372+3%

58▼1Corson County, SDSD3,7812−10%

59▲2Sully County, SDSD1,4791−5%

60▼2Jackson County, SDSD2,6661−9%

61▼1Hyde County, SDSD1,1911−29%

62Ziebach County, SDSD2,3891−5%

63Haakon County, SDSD1,8021−18%

64Perkins County, SDSD2,8531−15%

65Jones County, SDSD9131−23%

66Harding County, SDSD1,3310−2%

SHOWING 1–66 OF 66

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UPDATED 2026-09-11 · DATA: US CENSUS BUREAU POPULATION ESTIMATES