208,639 people (2024 Census estimate, +5.5% since 2020)
807 square miles of land · 259 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.
16 active community water systems list Minnehaha County in the area they serve, reporting 260,702 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| SIOUX FALLS surface water · local government · SD4600294 | 216,462 served |
| MINNEHAHA COMMUNITY WATER CORP groundwater · private · SD4600432 | 13,435 served |
| BRANDON groundwater · local government · SD4600048 | 11,048 served |
| LINCOLN COUNTY RURAL WATER SYSTEM buys groundwater · private · SD4600304 | 5,965 served |
| DELL RAPIDS buys groundwater · local government · SD4600105 | 3,633 served |
| HARTFORD buys groundwater · local government · SD4600150 | 3,396 served |
| CROOKS buys groundwater · local government · SD4600391 | 1,362 served |
| BALTIC buys groundwater · local government · SD4600034 | 1,271 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 295 people were held in Minnehaha County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2022), or 223 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2017 it was about 336.
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.
7 school districts have their office in Minnehaha County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $332.6 million — $289 million to run schools, about $11,504 per student, plus $33.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $179 million local (mostly property tax), $120.4 million state, $45.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $292.7 million.
Spent $62.9 million — $51 million to run schools, about $10,306 per student, plus $10.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $29.4 million local (mostly property tax), $26.1 million state, $3.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $34.9 million.
Spent $18.8 million — $15.7 million to run schools, about $11,144 per student, plus $2.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.6 million local (mostly property tax), $7.5 million state, $1.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $6.7 million.
Spent $13 million — $10.9 million to run schools, about $11,072 per student, plus $1.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.8 million local (mostly property tax), $4.5 million state, $2.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $17.1 million.
Spent $38.8 million — $11.6 million to run schools, about $12,240 per student, plus $24.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.7 million local (mostly property tax), $3.8 million state, $1.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $58.3 million.
Spent $14.6 million — $5.7 million to run schools, about $9,401 per student, plus $7.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.7 million local (mostly property tax), $3.3 million state, $370,000 federal. Long-term debt: $21.5 million.
Spent $5.8 million — $5.5 million to run schools, about $11,946 per student, plus $306,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.3 million local (mostly property tax), $2.1 million state, $299,000 federal. Long-term debt: $645,000.
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 Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Minnehaha County about $103.7 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.
394 bridges in Minnehaha County: 163 in good condition, 195 fair, and 36 poor (9.1%). “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.
| 49TH STREET over BIG SIOUX RIVER · built 1979 | 13,800 vehicles a day |
| S. CLIFF AVENUE over BIG SIOUX RIVER · built 1986 | 9,363 vehicles a day |
| I090 W over SD038 · built 1989 | 8,815 vehicles a day |
| RIVER BOULEVARD over BIG SIOUX RIVER · built 1975 | 5,300 vehicles a day |
| SD011 over WEST PIPESTONE CK · built 1953 | 3,442 vehicles a day |
| 258TH ST HWY 130 over BIG SIOUX RIVER · built 1966 | 2,419 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $133.2 million of work in Minnehaha County in fiscal 2025, about $675 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 Minnehaha 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 Minnehaha County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Dakota: the state government and every county in South Dakota.
Nearby counties: Moody County (25 mi) · Rock County, MN (27 mi) · Lincoln County (27 mi) · McCook County (28 mi) · Lake County (30 mi) · Turner County (30 mi).