Rankings · Counties

Deadliest counties in South Dakota

Counties in South Dakota ranked by traffic deaths across 2020–2024, and by their average yearly death rate. Counties with more residents and more road miles tend to have more deaths, so the rate is the fairer comparison.

Most traffic deaths, 2020–2024

# County Deaths 2020–2024 Per 100,000 a year
1 Minnehaha County 88 8.7
2 Pennington County 77 13.6
3 Lawrence County 47 34.6
4 Lincoln County 36 10.2
5 Meade County 23 15.1
6 Shannon County 21 n/a
7 Codington County 20 13.9
8 Charles Mix County 20 54.2
9 Hutchinson County 19 n/a
10 Brown County 16 n/a
11 Custer County 16 n/a
12 Fall River County 16 n/a
13 Yankton County 13 n/a
14 Jackson County 13 n/a
15 Roberts County 12 n/a
16 Union County 12 n/a
17 Oglala Lakota County 12 n/a
18 Buffalo County 11 n/a
19 Butte County 11 n/a
20 McCook County 11 n/a
21 Brookings County 10 n/a
22 Tripp County 10 n/a
23 Turner County 10 n/a
24 Beadle County 10 n/a
25 Corson County 9 n/a
26 Grant County 9 n/a
27 Jones County 9 n/a
28 Lyman County 9 n/a
29 Aurora County 8 n/a
30 Bon Homme County 8 n/a
31 Moody County 8 n/a
32 Bennett County 7 n/a
33 Dewey County 7 n/a
34 Deuel County 6 n/a
35 Haakon County 6 n/a
36 Brule County 5 n/a
37 Clay County 5 n/a
38 Davison County 5 n/a
39 Hughes County 5 n/a
40 Spink County 5 n/a
41 Walworth County 5 n/a
42 Lake County 5 n/a
43 Hanson County 5 n/a
44 Gregory County 4 n/a
45 Hamlin County 4 n/a
46 Kingsbury County 4 n/a
47 Clark County 3 n/a
48 Day County 3 n/a
49 Harding County 3 n/a
50 Marshall County 3 n/a

Highest death rates, 2020–2024

Deaths per 100,000 residents a year, averaged over 2020–2024. Only counties with at least 20 deaths in that time are ranked, because rates based on fewer deaths swing too much from year to year to compare. The rate divides deaths by the people who live in a county, so small counties crossed by busy highways can rank high: many of the people who die there are travelling through. How rates are worked out

# County Deaths 2020–2024 Per 100,000 a year
1 Charles Mix County 20 54.2
2 Lawrence County 47 34.6
3 Meade County 23 15.1
4 Codington County 20 13.9
5 Pennington County 77 13.6
6 Lincoln County 36 10.2
7 Minnehaha County 88 8.7

Deadliest counties in the US · Deadliest roads in South Dakota