Todd County, South Dakota Eviction Risk: Low

Todd County carries an average eviction-risk score of 2/10 (Low), but that headline figure deserves context for any landlord or investor sizing up this South Dakota eviction laws market. The county ranks 4th of 66 South Dakota eviction laws counties on risk, meaning only 3 counties statewide post a higher score and 62 are more landlord-friendly. With a total population of roughly 6,547 across 11 cities, this is a small, concentrated rental market where individual properties and neighborhoods carry outsized weight on portfolio performance.

The intra-county range runs from 1.5 to 2.3, a spread that signals real variation beneath the county average. Average rent sits at $539, the average rent burden is 22.3%, and the renter share stands at a striking 64.6% of occupied units. That high renter share creates demand, but the 53.5% average poverty rate is a serious underwriting signal: a large portion of tenants will face income shocks that landlords absorb first.

The cities inside Todd County

The highest-risk location in the county is Antelope, scoring 2.3/10 with a population of 706. Close behind are Mission (score 2.2/10, population 1,539), Parmelee (score 2.2/10, population 584), and Two Strike (score 2.2/10, population 257). These four communities cluster at the riskiest end of the county range and account for a meaningful share of total county population, so a landlord concentrated in any of them faces above-average exposure relative to the county midpoint.

The lowest-risk cities in Todd County are St. Francis and Sicangu Village, each scoring 1.5/10, followed by White Horse at 1.6/10 and Spring Creek at 1.8/10. Rosebud, the county's most populous city at 1,659 residents, sits at 2.1/10, closer to the riskier tier. Risk in this county is genuinely hyper-local: a two-mile difference in address can shift your effective risk profile by nearly a full point on a 10-point scale.

State-level laws that apply here

South Dakota eviction laws state law governs all landlord-tenant relationships in Todd County under SDCL § 43-32 (Lease of Real Property). For non-payment of rent or a lease violation, a landlord may serve a 3-day notice; ending a tenancy without cause requires a 30-day notice. South Dakota eviction laws does not require just cause to terminate a tenancy and has no rent control, and state preemption bars any local rent-control ordinance. Understanding the full South Dakota eviction laws eviction process before filing matters, because an uncontested case takes 21 to 40 days and a contested case stretches to 45 to 100 days. South Dakota eviction costs range from a court filing fee of $95 to $180, a sheriff lockout fee of $40 to $150, and attorney fees of $500 to $2,500, so a contested removal can realistically reach the high end of those component ranges before the unit is recovered. South Dakota security deposit limits and South Dakota tenant protections are set at the state level, with fair housing enforcement handled by the South Dakota eviction laws Division of Human Rights.

With an average poverty rate of 53.5% and a renter share of 64.6%, Todd County's underlying economics demand careful tenant screening and conservative underwriting; review the city-level scores in the grid above to identify where within the county your specific risk exposure actually falls.