13,360 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.1% since 2020)
2,094 square miles of land · 6 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.
No active community water system lists Oglala Lakota County in EPA's records — not gathered, never hidden.
No county jail figure in the national data for Oglala Lakota County — not gathered, never hidden. Some counties share a regional jail or have none.
1 school district has its office in Oglala Lakota County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $62.4 million — $42.6 million to run schools, about $23,728 per student, plus $18.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.6 million local (mostly property tax), $13.9 million state, $48.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $1.2 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 Oglala Lakota County about $8.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
35 bridges in Oglala Lakota County: 20 in good condition, 13 fair, and 2 poor (5.7%). “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.
| MOCCASIN PARK RD over WHITE CLAY CREEK · built 1975 | 50 vehicles a day |
| SMITHWICK ROAD over WHITE RIVER · built 1935 | 10 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $79.3 million of work in Oglala Lakota County in fiscal 2025, about $5,803 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 Oglala Lakota 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 Oglala Lakota County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Dakota: the state government and every county in South Dakota.
Nearby counties: Bennett County (46 mi) · Pennington County (48 mi) · Fall River County (48 mi) · Custer County (51 mi) · Dawes County, NE (52 mi) · Jackson County (53 mi).