All Counties in South Dakota, Eviction Risk 2026
66 counties covering 484 incorporated cities and 719,280 residents. Statewide average landlord risk score is 1.9/10 (Very Low), but county-level scores vary sharply, urban counties with strong tenant protections or high rent burdens routinely score several points above rural counties.
| County↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | Lean↕ | Renters↕ | % income on rent↕ | Avg rent↕ | Poverty↕ | Cities↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Oglala Lakota County | 5,765 | 2.6 | Dem | 53.4% | 27.3% | $626 | 68.2% | 6 |
| 02 | Dewey County | 4,120 | 2.5 | Dem | 63.2% | 22.5% | $592 | 45.7% | 5 |
| 03 | Todd County | 6,547 | 2.5 | Dem | 63.8% | 21.4% | $510 | 54.3% | 11 |
| 04 | Bennett County | 1,819 | 2.4 | Rep | 61.8% | 21.6% | $636 | 26.3% | 3 |
| 05 | Ziebach County | 638 | 2.4 | Dem | 40.2% | 22.3% | $613 | 54.1% | 3 |
| 06 | Buffalo County | 1,153 | 2.3 | Dem | 60.8% | 22.9% | $563 | 40.5% | 2 |
| 07 | Corson County | 1,622 | 2.2 | IND | 48.2% | 19.5% | $611 | 34.6% | 6 |
| 08 | Mellette County | 948 | 2.2 | Rep | 62.2% | 19.4% | $867 | 62.6% | 4 |
| 09 | Roberts County | 5,598 | 2.2 | Rep | 50.9% | 24.3% | $637 | 31.9% | 12 |
| 10 | Clay County | 12,485 | 2.0 | Dem | 34.0% | 33.7% | $763 | 16.6% | 4 |
| 11 | Campbell County | 1,230 | 2.0 | Rep | 43.2% | 26.3% | $594 | 30.3% | 6 |
| 12 | Custer County | 6,405 | 2.0 | Rep | 17.4% | 23.4% | $1,001 | 8.4% | 7 |
| 13 | Jackson County | 1,324 | 2.0 | Rep | 45.2% | 21.8% | $405 | 37.2% | 7 |
| 14 | Miner County | 1,291 | 2.0 | Rep | 22.3% | 24.1% | $586 | 16.6% | 8 |
| 15 | Pennington County | 102,968 | 2.0 | Rep | 28.1% | 28.7% | $1,100 | 11.4% | 11 |
| 16 | Sanborn County | 1,320 | 2.0 | Rep | 30.5% | 41.3% | $707 | 17.7% | 6 |
| 17 | Brookings County | 30,516 | 2.0 | Rep | 35.8% | 27.9% | $876 | 11.4% | 11 |
| 18 | Fall River County | 4,976 | 2.0 | Rep | 36.2% | 26.5% | $933 | 33.9% | 10 |
| 19 | Charles Mix County | 4,497 | 2.0 | Rep | 37.8% | 26.6% | $744 | 23.2% | 10 |
| 20 | Walworth County | 3,912 | 2.0 | Rep | 25.0% | 28.1% | $871 | 12.9% | 6 |
| 21 | Butte County | 6,498 | 1.9 | Rep | 16.9% | 33.7% | $1,035 | 19.4% | 5 |
| 22 | Haakon County | 996 | 1.9 | Rep | 36.7% | 21.1% | $726 | 34.1% | 4 |
| 23 | Tripp County | 3,373 | 1.9 | Rep | 46.2% | 38.2% | $735 | 31.3% | 5 |
| 24 | Moody County | 3,998 | 1.9 | Rep | 22.2% | 28.5% | $872 | 11.7% | 7 |
| 25 | Codington County | 23,441 | 1.9 | Rep | 27.4% | 24.5% | $909 | 15.0% | 4 |
| 26 | Lawrence County | 23,002 | 1.9 | Rep | 28.9% | 25.7% | $951 | 10.2% | 12 |
| 27 | Meade County | 14,320 | 1.9 | Rep | 18.1% | 32.9% | $963 | 10.4% | 5 |
| 28 | Union County | 13,638 | 1.9 | Rep | 34.5% | 22.4% | $1,001 | 8.2% | 8 |
| 29 | Clark County | 2,946 | 1.9 | Rep | 28.0% | 18.5% | $786 | 23.0% | 16 |
| 30 | Brule County | 4,223 | 1.9 | Rep | 27.2% | 27.9% | $870 | 7.6% | 8 |
| 31 | Deuel County | 2,362 | 1.9 | Rep | 23.1% | 22.9% | $543 | 9.8% | 9 |
| 32 | Jerauld County | 755 | 1.9 | Rep | 23.3% | 19.5% | $560 | 11.2% | 3 |
| 33 | Gregory County | 2,554 | 1.9 | Rep | 27.5% | 28.5% | $589 | 13.8% | 6 |
| 34 | Edmunds County | 2,383 | 1.8 | Rep | 25.1% | 14.8% | $1,023 | 12.0% | 9 |
| 35 | Faulk County | 1,147 | 1.8 | Rep | 31.5% | 20.8% | $902 | 41.9% | 10 |
| 36 | Day County | 3,269 | 1.8 | Rep | 27.6% | 22.3% | $598 | 16.7% | 10 |
| 37 | Grant County | 4,853 | 1.8 | Rep | 24.3% | 25.2% | $681 | 13.3% | 11 |
| 38 | Marshall County | 2,383 | 1.8 | Rep | 25.0% | 18.5% | $729 | 19.9% | 9 |
| 39 | Turner County | 5,779 | 1.8 | Rep | 23.1% | 23.5% | $759 | 13.3% | 10 |
| 40 | Brown County | 32,581 | 1.8 | Rep | 32.1% | 26.0% | $889 | 10.8% | 16 |
| 41 | Hutchinson County | 6,212 | 1.8 | Rep | 24.7% | 22.6% | $572 | 21.0% | 14 |
| 42 | Minnehaha County | 228,254 | 1.8 | Rep | 26.9% | 24.0% | $978 | 5.7% | 16 |
| 43 | McCook County | 2,979 | 1.8 | Rep | 23.2% | 27.0% | $852 | 18.3% | 7 |
| 44 | Lake County | 8,507 | 1.8 | Rep | 29.3% | 24.5% | $909 | 12.7% | 13 |
| 45 | Lyman County | 2,034 | 1.8 | Rep | 39.8% | 15.6% | $587 | 26.6% | 5 |
| 46 | Bon Homme County | 4,690 | 1.8 | Rep | 18.3% | 21.9% | $723 | 24.5% | 8 |
| 47 | Hamlin County | 3,641 | 1.8 | Rep | 22.2% | 25.3% | $970 | 7.2% | 8 |
| 48 | Kingsbury County | 3,146 | 1.7 | Rep | 23.1% | 26.0% | $681 | 11.2% | 9 |
| 49 | Spink County | 3,621 | 1.7 | Rep | 21.0% | 21.5% | $715 | 13.4% | 15 |
| 50 | Perkins County | 1,634 | 1.7 | Rep | 26.0% | 24.9% | $780 | 13.5% | 3 |
| 51 | Beadle County | 15,992 | 1.7 | Rep | 27.2% | 24.8% | $854 | 14.7% | 11 |
| 52 | Lincoln County | 22,905 | 1.7 | Rep | 16.7% | 25.4% | $1,043 | 7.7% | 8 |
| 53 | McPherson County | 1,399 | 1.7 | Rep | 17.6% | 17.7% | $795 | 20.7% | 6 |
| 54 | Potter County | 1,757 | 1.7 | Rep | 35.9% | 17.9% | $1,051 | 27.3% | 5 |
| 55 | Hanson County | 1,519 | 1.7 | Rep | 21.2% | 21.4% | $619 | 12.9% | 8 |
| 56 | Douglas County | 1,574 | 1.7 | Rep | 29.2% | 25.7% | $773 | 14.0% | 5 |
| 57 | Hand County | 1,855 | 1.7 | Rep | 45.9% | 28.1% | $568 | 10.5% | 5 |
| 58 | Aurora County | 1,376 | 1.6 | Rep | 27.4% | 23.6% | $831 | 11.1% | 6 |
| 59 | Davison County | 16,554 | 1.6 | Rep | 35.4% | 24.6% | $758 | 9.4% | 5 |
| 60 | Hughes County | 14,164 | 1.6 | Rep | 28.1% | 21.8% | $941 | 9.1% | 2 |
| 61 | Yankton County | 16,519 | 1.6 | Rep | 24.5% | 22.1% | $756 | 5.8% | 6 |
| 62 | Hyde County | 681 | 1.6 | Rep | 49.3% | 27.2% | $821 | 6.5% | 3 |
| 63 | Harding County | 319 | 1.6 | Rep | 12.1% | 16.7% | $725 | 10.2% | 2 |
| 64 | Jones County | 710 | 1.6 | Rep | 22.4% | 16.9% | $534 | 16.5% | 4 |
| 65 | Stanley County | 2,479 | 1.5 | Rep | 18.2% | 24.7% | $913 | 1.8% | 2 |
| 66 | Sully County | 1,124 | 1.5 | Rep | 24.1% | 21.5% | $939 | 9.7% | 3 |
Understanding county eviction risk in South Dakota
South Dakota's 66 counties span eviction-risk scores from 1.5 in Sully County to 2.6 in Oglala Lakota County , a 1.1-point gap that captures how unevenly rent burdens, renter populations, and local tenant politics are distributed across the state. The statewide average sits at 1.9/10 (Very Low), but that single figure hides far more than it reveals, the table above scores every county on the same 1–10 scale so you can see exactly where landlord exposure concentrates.
The counties carrying the most eviction risk, Oglala Lakota County, Dewey County, Todd County, are South Dakota's denser, higher-cost markets. In Sanborn County, renters spend an average of 41% of household income on rent, and 30% of its homes are renter-occupied, the cost pressure that pushes filings up and pulls tenant-protection ordinances into local politics. Larger metros also concentrate the legal-aid networks and renter-organizing capacity that lift a county's score above the rural baseline.
At the other end of the table, Sully County, Stanley County, Jones County score lowest. These tend to be smaller, more rural counties where homeownership is the norm, rent-to-income ratios run lower, and local rent-control or just-cause ordinances are rare or state-preempted. Evictions still happen there, but the structural pressure that drives a high score (heavy rent burden, a large renter majority, organized tenant advocacy) is simply weaker.
Each county score is a population-weighted aggregate of every city scored inside it, so a county with one expensive urban core and a dozen quiet suburbs lands somewhere in between. Click any county row to drill into its cities ranked one by one, a zoomed heat map, and a full breakdown of rent burden, renter share, poverty rate, and political margin. For the statutes that apply statewide regardless of county, notice periods, security-deposit caps, just-cause and rent-control rules, see the South Dakota state overview.