7,359 people (2024 Census estimate, +5.5% since 2020)
1,740 square miles of land · 4 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.
11 active community water systems list Fall River County in the area they serve, reporting 6,933 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| HOT SPRINGS groundwater · local government · SD4600163 | 3,395 served |
| FALL RIVER WUD groundwater · local government · SD4602201 | 1,057 served |
| SOUTHERN BLACK HILLS WATER groundwater · private · SD4602309 | 947 served |
| EDGEMONT groundwater · local government · SD4600114 | 725 served |
| HOT SPRINGS VA CENTER groundwater · federal · SD4680003 | 445 served |
| OELRICHS buys groundwater · local government · SD4600230 | 117 served |
| COUNTRY CLUB ESTATES groundwater · private · SD4600629 | 83 served |
| LIBERTY HILLS COMMUNITY groundwater · private · SD4600518 | 68 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 22 people were held in Fall River County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 560 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 19.
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.
3 school districts have their office in Fall River County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $12.4 million — $8.2 million to run schools, about $10,611 per student, plus $4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.3 million local (mostly property tax), $2.3 million state, $2.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $6.2 million.
Spent $2.8 million — $2.6 million to run schools, about $17,415 per student, plus $236,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.9 million local (mostly property tax), $476,000 state, $404,000 federal.
Spent $3.2 million — $2.8 million to run schools, about $24,250 per student, plus $373,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $606,000 local (mostly property tax), $899,000 state, $3.2 million federal.
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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Fall River County about $6.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
80 bridges in Fall River County: 41 in good condition, 34 fair, and 5 poor (6.3%). “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.
| MINNEKAHTA AVENUE over FALL RV · built 1934 | 588 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY RD over FALL RV · built 1932 | 41 vehicles a day |
| SCENIC ROAD over CHEYENNE RV · built 1930 | 41 vehicles a day |
| IGLOO RD over COAL CK · built 1940 | 20 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY RD (SD 298) over BURLINGTON NORTHERN RR · built 1945 | 20 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $15.3 million of work in Fall River County in fiscal 2025, about $2,192 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 Fall River 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 Fall River County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Dakota: the state government and every county in South Dakota.
Nearby counties: Custer County (32 mi) · Dawes County, NE (40 mi) · Oglala Lakota County (48 mi) · Niobrara County, WY (49 mi) · Sioux County, NE (53 mi) · Pennington County (64 mi).