How it works
A random city in South Dakota is more often a town of a few hundred people than Sioux Falls: of the 310 municipalities in the Census Bureau's 2025 estimates, 196 have under 500 people.
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Small towns on most cards, and one village
Eighty-one places have under 100 people, and only 14 have 10,000 or more. Wentworth, in Lake County, is the state's only village. Sioux Falls spills from Minnehaha County into Lincoln County, where Harrisburg has gained more than 3,500 people since 2020.
Sixty-five counties and four names that mislead
Buffalo County has no incorporated place and never comes up; four counties have a single place, such as Batesland in Oglala Lakota County. The town of Buffalo is in Harding County, Aurora in Brookings County, Tripp in Hutchinson County and Mellette in Spink County.
- Pierre, the capital, has 13,848 people; among the 50 state capitals only Montpelier, Vermont, has fewer.
Questions and answers
How many cities are in South Dakota?
South Dakota has 310 incorporated municipalities: the Census Bureau's file names 157 of them cities, 152 towns and one a village. Two have 50,000 people or more, Sioux Falls and Rapid City.
What is the difference between a city and a town in South Dakota?
State law sorts municipalities by size, not by name: first class with 5,000 people or more, second class with 500 to 4,999 and third class below that. The names do not follow it: Aurora, a town, has 1,286 people and Brant Lake, a city, 56.
What is the smallest town in South Dakota?
Hillsview, in McPherson County, with one resident in the 2025 estimates. Butler in Day County has four and Lowry in Walworth County five.
What are the largest cities in South Dakota?
Sioux Falls, with 213,748 people, then Rapid City with 80,589, Aberdeen with 27,961, Brookings with 25,355 and Watertown with 23,736.