Where does South Dakota rank for food access among U.S. states?

South Dakota ranks #5 of 50 and sits in the upper third by population-weighted low-access (29.1%), per USDA FARA 2019.

What share of South Dakota has low food access?

29.1% of South Dakota residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted) (+7 pts vs U.S.), per USDA FARA 2019.

How many food deserts are in South Dakota?

32 census tracts in South Dakota are USDA food deserts (~69K low-income low-access residents); ~0.48 tracts per county.

What is the SNAP participation rate in South Dakota?

Across South Dakota, 8.4% of households receive SNAP (ACS 2024) (-3.7 pts vs U.S.) - low tercile among states.

Which county in South Dakota has the worst food access?

Harding County has the highest low-access share at 100.0% (~0.5% of statewide low-access residents), with 2.0% SNAP.

Signature · 29.1% low-access (#5 of 50)

Food access in South Dakota

South Dakota sits in the upper third nationally on low-access (29.1%, +7 pts vs U.S.), with USDA FARA 2019 + ACS 2024 context for 66 counties.

Compiled by Plainfoodaccess, Food Access Editorial Process · December 31, 2024

29.1%
low-access pop.: 32
food-desert tracts: 8.4%
on SNAP: 66
counties

USDA FARA state access plate

State SD · South Dakota

LA-ELEVATED · ABOVE-NATIONAL · LILA-CLUSTER · SNAP-LIGHT · VEH-OK · BOOK-MID

LA-ELEVATED 29.1% low-access
ABOVE-NATIONAL +7.0 pts vs US
LILA-CLUSTER 32 food-desert tracts
SNAP-LIGHT 8.4% SNAP
VEH-OK 5.4% no vehicle
BOOK-MID 66 counties

Nearest low-access peer: North Dakota ( -0.2 pts)

Where South Dakota sits by county inventory

South Dakota covers 66 counties among 51 states and DC (atlas inventory, not a food-access quality ranking). Orthogonal to the low-access / SNAP charts below.

South Dakota vs all states by county count

Where this state's county inventory sits among every tracked jurisdiction

66 23rd of 51 higher than 28 of 51 states

Jurisdictions, banded by county inventory

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USDA Food Access Research Atlas / Census county inventory · 2026-06-23

Upper-band statewide picture

According to USDA FARA, South Dakota is in the upper third on low-access (29.1%, #5 of 50; ~237K residents) - +7 pts vs the U.S. mean.

#5
among states by low-access: 237K
low-access residents: 69K
food-desert residents: 5.4%
households, no vehicle

Population-weighted tract shares (not a county average). Upper-band states often pair elevated low-access with clustered LILA tracts.

South Dakota on the national low-access cartogram

South Dakota ringed at #5 of 50 by population-weighted low-access. Click any state to compare.

USDA Economic Research Service, Food Access Research Atlas (2019), population-weighted · Census ACS 2024 context

Signature read: 29.1% low-access (#5 of 50) (+7 pts vs U.S. low-access).

South Dakota sits in the upper third of states by population-weighted low-access share (29.1% , #5 of 50). The Atlas marks 32 food-desert tracts here (69K low-income low-access residents). Harding County alone holds about 0.5% of the state's low-access residents.

States near South Dakota's elevated low-access or SNAP band

Two USDA/ACS-derived peer sets for South Dakota. Neighbourhood chart below is local poles; these panels are full-corpus nearest neighbours excluding this state.

Similar low-access share

Nearest population-weighted low-access rates (29.1% here).

North Dakota · 28.9% low-access
Indiana · 28.7% low-access
South Carolina · 28.7% low-access
Wyoming · 29.7% low-access

Similar SNAP participation

Nearest household SNAP rates (8.4% here), deduped against the low-access panel.

Colorado · 8.5% SNAP
Nebraska · 8.1% SNAP
Iowa · 8.8% SNAP
Montana · 7.9% SNAP

Source: USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) + Census ACS 2024 SNAP. Floor county_count ≥ 5.

NM

31.7
WY

29.7
SD

29.1
ND

28.9
IN

28.7
SC

28.7
DC

4.6

Harding

100
Jerauld

100
Jones

100
Sully

99.7
Sanborn

98.9
Hamlin

96.1
Bon Homme

80.2
Hanson

70.7

All counties in South Dakota

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Harding County	1K	100.0%	2.0%	1.6%	6.3%
Jerauld County	2K	100.0%	3.4%	5.4%	8.3%
Jones County	1K	100.0%	1.2%	4.4%	18.3%
Sully County	2K	99.7%	4.9%	2.4%	6.3%
Sanborn County	2K	98.9%	5.7%	7.0%	8.5%
Hamlin County	6K	96.1%	3.2%	1.3%	6.9%
Bon Homme County	7K	80.2%	6.3%	4.2%	10.6%
Hanson County	3K	70.7%	3.1%	1.5%	7.0%
Aurora County	3K	70.4%	4.4%	2.6%	10.6%
Jackson County	3K	63.9%	23.5%	12.8%	42.4%
McPherson County	2K	55.7%	3.2%	1.5%	12.9%
Lyman County	4K	54.9%	11.4%	5.7%	23.7%
Marshall County	4K	50.7%	1.6%	2.3%	6.1%
Day County	5K	49.0%	7.1%	6.0%	14.8%
Dewey County	5K	48.5%	21.2%	11.6%	33.0%
Faulk County	2K	48.2%	1.4%	10.9%	28.3%
McCook County	6K	47.8%	5.0%	2.1%	6.8%
Clark County	4K	46.3%	1.9%	5.3%	10.9%
Edmunds County	4K	46.2%	3.5%	1.2%	9.9%
Brookings County	35K	45.4%	4.4%	5.2%	13.2%
Spink County	6K	43.3%	4.3%	3.3%	10.1%
Butte County	11K	42.5%	7.5%	5.6%	8.6%
Brown County	38K	42.1%	8.8%	6.8%	11.7%
Haakon County	2K	41.3%	3.1%	4.1%	7.7%
Campbell County	2K	40.5%	5.7%	2.9%	7.7%
Mellette County	2K	40.4%	24.8%	5.9%	41.7%
Potter County	2K	39.6%	2.1%	2.6%	6.2%
Bennett County	3K	39.2%	17.0%	1.5%	29.9%
Ziebach County	2K	37.5%	25.3%	12.2%	33.5%
Corson County	4K	36.1%	25.1%	11.6%	44.2%
Custer County	9K	35.3%	4.6%	0.7%	9.0%
Roberts County	10K	35.3%	10.6%	4.6%	15.7%
Hughes County	18K	34.8%	6.1%	7.8%	9.2%
Fall River County	7K	34.1%	10.5%	6.6%	16.6%
Clay County	15K	33.3%	9.9%	5.7%	19.7%
Hand County	3K	33.1%	3.8%	7.3%	5.2%
Walworth County	5K	32.9%	7.5%	2.6%	14.9%
Pennington County	114K	32.8%	8.1%	5.6%	11.2%
Davison County	20K	32.7%	7.6%	6.2%	11.2%
Deuel County	4K	32.7%	3.5%	2.3%	8.8%
Brule County	5K	32.6%	6.2%	5.7%	10.7%
Codington County	29K	32.5%	5.0%	5.3%	8.8%
Tripp County	6K	32.1%	10.2%	7.1%	18.4%
Perkins County	3K	31.8%	8.2%	4.5%	13.7%
Beadle County	19K	29.0%	11.3%	8.5%	13.6%
Gregory County	4K	28.0%	7.9%	2.9%	9.5%
Yankton County	23K	25.5%	7.3%	5.2%	11.9%
Miner County	2K	24.3%	6.9%	3.5%	11.2%
Lawrence County	27K	20.1%	8.5%	4.8%	11.6%
Minnehaha County	203K	19.8%	8.4%	5.6%	8.8%
Lake County	11K	19.1%	5.2%	3.5%	8.4%
Grant County	8K	18.9%	7.6%	3.6%	11.6%
Buffalo County	2K	18.1%	23.6%	13.0%	33.9%
Moody County	6K	17.3%	4.2%	2.9%	11.6%
Todd County	9K	17.0%	40.2%	12.8%	48.4%
Kingsbury County	5K	16.8%	3.9%	4.1%	10.6%
Lincoln County	71K	16.6%	3.3%	2.1%	5.6%
Meade County	31K	15.3%	5.9%	3.8%	7.1%
Hyde County	1K	14.8%	2.4%	2.0%	5.7%
Stanley County	3K	13.5%	2.3%	2.6%	5.1%
Charles Mix County	9K	9.4%	14.2%	5.2%	24.0%
Hutchinson County	7K	8.9%	7.9%	5.4%	12.2%
Douglas County	3K	7.1%	1.8%	2.0%	11.0%
Turner County	9K	2.2%	8.5%	3.9%	9.3%
Union County	17K	1.0%	4.1%	3.7%	6.2%
Oglala Lakota County	13K	0.0%	49.5%	22.5%	57.6%

Source: USDA ERS Food Access Research Atlas (2019) + U.S. Census Bureau ACS (2024 5-year). Sorted by low-access share, highest first.

Figures from USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and Census ACS 2024 5-year. Compiled 2026-06-23. Methodology · All states.

PlainFoodAccess renders this state summary directly from the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates), no number is typed in by an editor. Statewide figures for South Dakota are population-weighted aggregates of county Atlas and ACS records. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-06-23. Primary sources: USDA Food Access Research Atlas and Census ACS 5-year estimates.