2,392 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.7% since 2020)
569 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.
4 active community water systems list Sanborn County in the area they serve, reporting 4,460 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| DAVISON RURAL WATER SYSTEM INC buys surface water · private · SD4601090 | 3,485 served |
| WOONSOCKET groundwater · local government · SD4600376 | 618 served |
| UPLAND COLONY groundwater · private · SD4602077 | 198 served |
| LETCHER buys surface water · local government · SD4600196 | 159 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.
No county jail figure in the national data for Sanborn County — not gathered, never hidden. Some counties share a regional jail or have none.
2 school districts have their office in Sanborn County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $4.3 million — $3.5 million to run schools, about $12,340 per student, plus $784,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.9 million local (mostly property tax), $1.5 million state, $929,000 federal. Long-term debt: $590,000.
Spent $3.2 million — $3.1 million to run schools, about $14,590 per student, plus $121,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.1 million local (mostly property tax), $933,000 state, $434,000 federal. Long-term debt: $8,000.
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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Sanborn County about $3.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
54 bridges in Sanborn County: 18 in good condition, 29 fair, and 7 poor (13.0%). “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.
| 397TH AVE. over MORRIS CK · built 1930 | 225 vehicles a day |
| 414TH AVE. over JIM CK · built 1930 | 120 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY RD over SAND CK · built 1940 | 70 vehicles a day |
| 220 ST. over CK · built 1920 | 56 vehicles a day |
| 416TH AVE. over CK · built 1920 | 56 vehicles a day |
| 397TH AVE. over SAND CK · built 1920 | 35 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $300,780 of work in Sanborn County in fiscal 2025, about $129 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 Sanborn 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 Sanborn County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Dakota: the state government and every county in South Dakota.
Nearby counties: Davison County (24 mi) · Miner County (24 mi) · Jerauld County (27 mi) · Hanson County (28 mi) · Beadle County (29 mi) · Aurora County (32 mi).