South Dakota County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 66 counties in South Dakota, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average South Dakota county scores 16.4. 3 counties score high, very high, or extreme.
Data: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Urban Institute, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts | Scores as of Aug 2026
South Dakota Snapshot
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Oglala Lakota County is the most distressed of South Dakota's 66 counties
County Distress Index score for South Dakota's 66 counties, from green (least distressed, 0–29) to red (most distressed, 80–100). Data from 2024 to Aug 2026.
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County Distress Index score · data from 2024 to Aug 2026
Point to or tap a county for its rank and score. Click it, or tap it twice, to open its page.
Most & Least Distressed
Most Distressed
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Score Distribution
How South Dakota's 66 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All South Dakota Counties
66 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Oglala Lakota County | 84 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 2 | — | Todd County | 84 | very high county distress | Labor |
| 3 | — | Dewey County | 82 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 4 | — | Corson County | 64 | moderate-high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 5 | — | Jackson County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 6 | — | Buffalo County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 7 | — | Bennett County | 53 | moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 8 | — | Mellette County | 53 | moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 9 | — | Ziebach County | 52 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 10 | — | Lyman County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 11 | — | Fall River County | 36 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 12 | — | Tripp County | 33 | low-moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 13 | — | Roberts County | 31 | low-moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 14 | — | Butte County | 25 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 15 | — | Gregory County | 24 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 16 | — | Clay County | 23 | low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 17 | — | Charles Mix County | 20 | low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 18 | — | Pennington County | 18 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 19 | — | Walworth County | 16 | very low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 20 | — | Beadle County | 16 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 21 | — | Potter County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 22 | — | Moody County | 14 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 23 | — | Brown County | 13 | very low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 24 | — | Davison County | 9 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 25 | — | Minnehaha County | 9 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 26 | — | Day County | 9 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 27 | — | Faulk County | 8 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 28 | — | Perkins County | 8 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 29 | — | Clark County | 7 | exceptionally low county distress | Labor |
| 30 | — | Jones County | 6 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 31 | — | Lawrence County | 6 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 32 | — | Brule County | 6 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 33 | — | Sanborn County | 5 | exceptionally low county distress | Delinquency |
| 34 | — | Stanley County | 5 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 35 | — | Hyde County | 4 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 36 | — | Miner County | 4 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 37 | — | Lake County | 4 | exceptionally low county distress | Delinquency |
| 38 | — | McCook County | 4 | exceptionally low county distress | Delinquency |
| 39 | — | Spink County | 3 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 40 | — | Yankton County | 3 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 41 | — | Grant County | 3 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 42 | — | Codington County | 3 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 43 | — | Jerauld County | 3 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 44 | 3,047 | Meade County | 3 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 45 | 3,053 | Bon Homme County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 46 | 3,054 | McPherson County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 47 | 3,065 | Custer County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 48 | 3,067 | Harding County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 49 | 3,068 | Campbell County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 50 | 3,071 | Marshall County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 51 | 3,076 | Turner County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 52 | 3,077 | Aurora County | 2 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 53 | 3,096 | Hughes County | 1 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 54 | 3,097 | Union County | 1 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 55 | 3,099 | Edmunds County | 1 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 56 | 3,102 | Douglas County | 1 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 57 | 3,113 | Sully County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 58 | 3,118 | Hutchinson County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 59 | 3,122 | Haakon County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 60 | 3,124 | Kingsbury County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 61 | 3,125 | Brookings County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 62 | 3,129 | Hand County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 63 | 3,132 | Deuel County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 64 | 3,135 | Hanson County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 65 | 3,138 | Lincoln County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Default & Legal |
| 66 | 3,142 | Hamlin County | 0 | exceptionally low county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
How County Scores Work
Each county is scored 0–100 using five equal-weighted domains. Each domain averages its member indicators' county ranks, the domains are averaged, and that average is ranked against every U.S. county. So a county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than. National ranks are shown only for the 100 most and 100 least distressed counties, because ranks in between move between updates. Counties with identical composite scores share a rank, marked T- for tied.
Urban Institute data: Breno Braga, Signe-Mary McKernan, Samantha Atherton, and Kassandra Martinchek, "Debt in America," last updated November 20, 2025, https://datacatalog.urban.org/dataset/debt-america-2025. Licensed under ODC-By 1.0. The County Distress Index is American Default Research's own calculation; the Urban Institute does not produce or endorse it.