South Dakota
South Dakota: the places inside it, the companies based here, and where this atlas has research on it.
state · population 213,900 (registry) · North America · page prepared 2026-11-07
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South Dakota at a glance
Rolled up from the 8 regions inside South Dakota on this site, with census figures from Statistics Canada.
Who leads South Dakota, and how households are doing
Researched 2026-11-10 from official statistics; every figure links to its source.
- Population
- 935,094 persons (2025) ↗
- GDP
- 80,650 USD millions (nominal, current dollars, BEA SAGDP1) (2025) ↗
- GDP per person
- 86,248 USD (nominal) (2025) ↗
- Unemployment
- 2 % (seasonally adjusted, preliminary) (2026-09) ↗
- Median household income
- 80,500 USD (Census ACS 1-year) (2025) ↗
- Home ownership
- 68.1 % (2025) ↗
- Debt per person with a credit report
- 52,300 USD average debt per person with a credit record (NY Fed Center for Microeconomic Data); mortgages ~65.8% of household debt (2025) ↗
Home prices in the biggest cities
As each source measures them (benchmark, median or average sale price); not directly comparable across measures.
| City / metro | Price | Measure | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sioux Falls ↗ | 331,217 USD | median sale (Redfin, 3-month average Jan–Mar) | 2026-03 |
| Rapid City ↗ | 348,958 USD | median sale (Redfin, 3-month average Jan–Mar) | 2026-03 |
| Sioux Falls ↗ | 330,000 USD | median sale (Resideline-tracked sample of 1,913 closings, last 6 months) | 2026-10 |
| Rapid City ↗ | 370,000 USD | median sale (Resideline-tracked sample of 385 closings, last 6 months) | 2026-10 |
| South Dakota (statewide) ↗ | 342,070 USD | median sale (Resideline-tracked sample of 4,615 closings, last 6 months) | 2026-10 |
Languages
Official-language and home-language figures as the census reports them.
| Language | Share | Measure | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language other than English (age 5+) ↗ | 7% | most often at home (ACS); 61,400 of 871,100 | 2024 |
| Spanish ↗ | spoken at home, 22,300 speakers age 5+ (ACS) | 2024 | |
| Other Native languages of North America ↗ | spoken at home, 9,500 speakers age 5+ (ACS) | 2024 | |
| German ↗ | spoken at home, 6,300 speakers age 5+ (ACS) | 2024 | |
| English ↗ | official status: the state's "common language" (1995 law) | 1995 | |
| Sioux (Dakota/Lakota/Nakota) ↗ | official status: official indigenous language (2019) | 2019 |
Largest companies in South Dakota
Ranked by the measure shown, from the cited ranking or filing.
| Company | Measure | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Hills Corporation (Rapid City) ↗ | revenue | 2.31 USD billions | 2025 |
| NorthWestern Energy Group (Sioux Falls) ↗ | revenue | 1.611 USD billions | 2025 |
| Daktronics (Brookings) ↗ | revenue | 0.839 USD billions | FY2025 |
Worth knowing
- 2026-11Gov. Larry Rhoden (R) won the Nov 3, 2026 general election 193,318 (63.5%) to Democrat Dan Ahlers 111,137 (36.5%), with 99% counted; running mate Tony Venhuizen. Not yet certified. ↗
- 2025-01Rhoden, lieutenant governor since 2019, became governor in January 2025 when Kristi Noem left to become U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. ↗
- 2025-01Tony Venhuizen was sworn in as lieutenant governor on Jan 30, 2025, after Rhoden nominated him and both legislative chambers confirmed him unanimously. ↗
- 2025-08Black Hills Corp. and NorthWestern Energy agreed in August 2025 to an all-stock merger valuing the combined company at $15.4 billion; the deal is pending. ↗
- 2026-09South Dakota's unemployment rate was 2.0% in September 2026 (labor force 484.7K; nonfarm jobs 470.5K, +0.4% y/y). ↗
- 2025Nominal GDP rose 5.0% to $80.65 billion in 2025 (real growth 1.4%). ↗
Census
US Census Bureau American Community Survey.
- Spanish20,492 · 2.3%
- Other and unspecified languages14,729 · 1.6%
- German or other West Germanic languages5,798 · 0.6%
- Other Indo-European languages3,533 · 0.4%
- Other Asian and Pacific Island languages3,162 · 0.4%
- Russian, Polish, or other Slavic languages2,772 · 0.3%
Largest places in South Dakota
By registry population; places with a full /local page are marked.
- 1.Sioux Falls, South Dakota full192,517
- 2.Rapid City, South Dakota full74,703
- 3.Aberdeen, South Dakota28,495
- 4.Brookings, South Dakota full23,377
- 5.Pierre, South Dakota full14,091
- 6.Madison, South Dakota6,191
- 7.Hot Springs, South Dakota3,395
- 8.Keystone, South Dakota240
Inside South Dakota
8 regions have South Dakota as their parent.
Companies based in South Dakota
13 companies in the Research Upon directory have their headquarters somewhere in South Dakota. Search them by name or industry.
areaAbout this page: figures for the whole of South Dakota are rolled up from every region inside it; each place inside has a page of its own, and the companies headquartered here are listed above.