2,307 people (2024 Census estimate, −4.0% since 2020)
1,137 square miles of land · 2 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.
3 active community water systems list McPherson County in the area they serve, reporting 21,997 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| WEB WATER DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION surface water · private · SD4601089 | 20,750 served |
| EUREKA buys surface water · local government · SD4600121 | 813 served |
| LEOLA buys surface water · local government · SD4600194 | 434 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 1 people were held in McPherson County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (1970), or 35 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64.
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.
2 school districts have their office in McPherson County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $3.9 million — $3.8 million to run schools, about $17,929 per student, plus $104,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.8 million local (mostly property tax), $1 million state, $383,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.9 million.
Spent $3.2 million — $3 million to run schools, about $18,245 per student, plus $188,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.7 million local (mostly property tax), $386,000 state, $342,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.3 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost McPherson County about $3.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
14 bridges in McPherson County: 4 in good condition, 10 fair, and 0 poor (0.0%). “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.
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $2.4 million of work in McPherson County in fiscal 2025, about $980 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 McPherson 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 McPherson County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Dakota: the state government and every county in South Dakota.
Nearby counties: McIntosh County, ND (24 mi) · Edmunds County (26 mi) · Campbell County (38 mi) · Dickey County, ND (41 mi) · Brown County (43 mi) · Walworth County (46 mi).