State food-access profile · 66 counties

Food access in South Dakota

How far South Dakota residents live from a supermarket, where the food deserts are, and the SNAP, poverty, and vehicle-access context, from the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and the Census ACS (2024).

Compiled by Plainfoodaccess, Food Access Editorial Process · June 23, 2026

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

The statewide picture

About 237K South Dakota residents - 29.1% - live in a low-access area, and 32 census tracts across the state are USDA-designated food deserts.

237K
low-access residents: 69K
food-desert residents: 5.4%
households, no vehicle: 12.0%
below poverty line

Shares are population-weighted across the state's tracts, not an average of county percentages. Low access = >1 mile (urban) / >10 miles (rural) from a supermarket.

Where South Dakota stands nationally

Every state colored by its population-weighted low-access share, South Dakota is ringed. Click any state to compare.

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

The USDA Food Access Research Atlas evaluates every census tract in South Dakota against the same rule used nationwide: a tract is low-access when many residents live more than one mile from a supermarket in urban areas, or more than ten miles in rural areas. Across 66 counties and 907K residents, South Dakota's population-weighted low-access share is 29.1%.

A tract becomes a food desert only when its low-access residents are also low-income. That applies to 32 tracts in South Dakota, home to roughly 69K low-income, low-access residents. SNAP participation across the state averages 8.4% of households, and 5.4% of households have no vehicle, the transport gap that turns distance into a real barrier. The county table below is sorted with the highest low-access share first, so the top rows are where distance, income, and vehicle gaps most consistently overlap.

Counties

29.1%

Low-access (pop-weighted)

237K

Low-access residents

8.4%

Avg. SNAP

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

What this means for the state

29.1% of South Dakota residents, about 237K people, live in a low-access area.
32 census tracts are USDA food deserts, home to roughly 69K low-income, low-access residents.
8.4% of households receive SNAP, and 5.4% have no vehicle.
Harding County has the state's highest low-access share at 100.0%.

USDA low-access figures reflect the 2019 Atlas (2010 tract populations); SNAP, poverty, and vehicle context is the Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What share of South Dakota has low food access?▼

29.1% of South Dakota residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted across the state's tracts), per the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019).

How many food deserts are in South Dakota?▼

32 census tracts in South Dakota are USDA-designated food deserts, both low-access and low-income, home to roughly 69K low-income residents.

What is the SNAP participation rate in South Dakota?▼

Across South Dakota counties, an average of 8.4% of households receive SNAP (Census ACS 2024), though rates vary between urban and rural areas.

Which county in South Dakota has the worst food access?▼

Harding County has the highest low-access share in South Dakota at 100.0%, with 2.0% SNAP participation.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service Food Access Research Atlas (2019 edition), 9,228 of roughly 71,700 U.S. census tracts meet the low-income, low-access food-desert threshold. The state and county figures on this page are aggregated from that tract-level data and joined to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024 5-Year Estimates, released in December 2025. See our methodology for how the population-weighted shares are computed.

Data current as of 2026-06-23 (most recent source-data vintage).

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