3,015 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.5% since 2020)
1,444 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 Stanley County in the area they serve, reporting 10,131 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| WR/LJ - MNI WICONI buys surface water · private · SD4602223 | 5,185 served |
| WR/LJ - NORTH STANLEY COUNTY buys surface water · private · SD4602224 | 2,710 served |
| FORT PIERRE buys surface water · local government · SD4600130 | 2,236 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 0 people were held in Stanley County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (1970).
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.
1 school district has its office in Stanley County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $6 million — $5.7 million to run schools, about $13,606 per student, plus $259,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.1 million local (mostly property tax), $1.4 million state, $716,000 federal. Long-term debt: $2.8 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 Stanley County about $4.3 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
37 bridges in Stanley County: 13 in good condition, 18 fair, and 6 poor (16.2%). “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.
| FAS 3214 over DAN POWELL CK · built 1936 | 210 vehicles a day |
| 291ST AVE over ANTELOPE CK · built 1935 | 130 vehicles a day |
| STAE HIGHWAY 1806 over OAHE DAM SPILLWAY · built 1963 | 123 vehicles a day |
| US014 EF over PRAIRIE DOG CK · built 1920 | 50 vehicles a day |
| US014 EF over LITTLE PRAIRIE DOG CK · built 1920 | 50 vehicles a day |
| PLEASANT VALLEY RD over LANCE CK · built 1930 | 17 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $15.7 million of work in Stanley County in fiscal 2025, about $5,272 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 Stanley 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 Stanley County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Dakota: the state government and every county in South Dakota.
Nearby counties: Jones County (32 mi) · Sully County (37 mi) · Hughes County (38 mi) · Haakon County (40 mi) · Dewey County (51 mi) · Lyman County (57 mi).