36,359 people (2024 Census estimate, +5.9% since 2020)
792 square miles of land · 46 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
13 active community water systems list Brookings County in the area they serve, reporting 47,064 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BROOKINGS MUNICIPAL UTILITIES groundwater · local government · SD4600071 | 23,377 served |
| KINGBROOK I RURAL WATER SYSTEM buys groundwater · private · SD4600431 | 6,455 served |
| BROOKINGS-DEUEL RURAL WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · SD4600430 | 6,200 served |
| BIG SIOUX COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · SD4600429 | 5,800 served |
| VOLGA groundwater · local government · SD4600346 | 2,340 served |
| AURORA buys groundwater · local government · SD4600058 | 1,200 served |
| ELKTON buys groundwater · local government · SD4600117 | 755 served |
| WHITE buys groundwater · local government · SD4600364 | 499 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 31 people were held in Brookings County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 130 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 40.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
4 school districts have their office in Brookings County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $52.1 million — $41.1 million to run schools, about $11,965 per student, plus $8.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $27.1 million local (mostly property tax), $18 million state, $4.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $37.9 million.
Spent $8.1 million — $7.5 million to run schools, about $10,146 per student, plus $284,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.8 million local (mostly property tax), $4 million state, $670,000 federal. Long-term debt: $6.2 million.
Spent $6.1 million — $5.1 million to run schools, about $11,628 per student, plus $818,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5 million local (mostly property tax), $988,000 state, $522,000 federal. Long-term debt: $4.2 million.
Spent $5.4 million — $4.9 million to run schools, about $11,567 per student, plus $398,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.1 million local (mostly property tax), $1.9 million state, $448,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.6 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Brookings County about $23.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
232 bridges in Brookings County: 64 in good condition, 115 fair, and 53 poor (22.8%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| 470TH AVENUE over BIG SIOUX RV · built 1930 | 1,330 vehicles a day |
| 471ST AVENUE over CK · built 1925 | 1,305 vehicles a day |
| SD013 over MEDARY CK · built 1938 | 1,275 vehicles a day |
| 471ST AVENUE over BR NORTH DEER CK · built 1925 | 1,163 vehicles a day |
| 478TH AVENUE over CK · built 1950 | 1,159 vehicles a day |
| 478TH AVENUE over DEER CK · built 1950 | 712 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $43.8 million of work in Brookings County in fiscal 2025, about $1,274 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for South Dakota are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Brookings County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Brookings County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Dakota: the state government and every county in South Dakota.
Nearby counties: Moody County (26 mi) · Lincoln County, MN (26 mi) · Deuel County (27 mi) · Hamlin County (28 mi) · Lake County (29 mi) · Kingsbury County (35 mi).