75,244 people (2024 Census estimate, +14.6% since 2020)
577 square miles of land · 130 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.
9 active community water systems list Lincoln County in the area they serve, reporting 49,236 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MINNEHAHA COMMUNITY WATER CORP groundwater · private · SD4600432 | 13,435 served |
| HARRISBURG buys groundwater · local government · SD4600148 | 10,297 served |
| TEA buys groundwater · local government · SD4600409 | 7,381 served |
| LINCOLN COUNTY RURAL WATER SYSTEM buys groundwater · private · SD4600304 | 5,965 served |
| SOUTH LINCOLN RURAL WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · SD4600870 | 5,250 served |
| CANTON groundwater · local government · SD4600082 | 3,066 served |
| LENNOX buys groundwater · local government · SD4600193 | 2,571 served |
| WORTHING buys groundwater · local government · SD4600377 | 939 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 100 people were held in Lincoln County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2022), or 223 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2017 it was about 100.
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 Lincoln County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $126.2 million — $65.7 million to run schools, about $11,109 per student, plus $53.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $56.1 million local (mostly property tax), $28.5 million state, $4.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $193.1 million.
Spent $30.9 million — $23.6 million to run schools, about $10,001 per student, plus $4.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $13.1 million local (mostly property tax), $14.2 million state, $2.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $49.5 million.
Spent $15.3 million — $13.1 million to run schools, about $10,835 per student, plus $1.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9 million local (mostly property tax), $5.3 million state, $1.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $13.4 million.
Spent $10.8 million — $10.3 million to run schools, about $11,737 per student, plus $258,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.2 million local (mostly property tax), $3.8 million state, $784,000 federal. Long-term debt: $9.6 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 Lincoln County about $41.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
207 bridges in Lincoln County: 74 in good condition, 101 fair, and 32 poor (15.5%). “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.
| 466TH AVENUE over SADDLE CREEK · built 1964 | 495 vehicles a day |
| 469TH AVENUE over TRIBUTARY TO ASH CREEK · built 1935 | 261 vehicles a day |
| 472ND AVENUE over SADDLE CREEK · built 1938 | 150 vehicles a day |
| 476TH AVENUE over TRIB. TO W BRULE CREEK · built 1940 | 137 vehicles a day |
| 476TH AVENUE over S FORK OF BEAVER CREEK · built 1963 | 117 vehicles a day |
| 464TH AVENUE over BLIND CREEK · built 1941 | 80 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $67.8 million of work in Lincoln County in fiscal 2025, about $1,041 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Dakota: the state government and every county in South Dakota.
Nearby counties: Turner County (22 mi) · Lyon County, IA (27 mi) · Minnehaha County (27 mi) · Clay County (28 mi) · Sioux County, IA (31 mi) · Union County (31 mi).