South Dakota - 910,000 Residents, Nine Tribes, and the Missouri River Divide
South Dakota holds roughly 910,000 people across 77,116 square miles, making it the fifth least populous state. The Missouri River bisects the state almost exactly down the middle and has historically marked the dividing line between the farming country to the east and the ranching and grassland country to the west. Sioux Falls is the largest city at about 200,000 and sits in the southeastern corner near the Iowa and Minnesota borders. Pierre, the capital, has fewer than 14,000 residents and ranks as the smallest state capital in the country by population.
Sioux Falls is built on financial services to an unusual degree for a city of its size. Citibank moved its credit card operations to South Dakota in 1981 to take advantage of the state's favorable usury laws, and First Premier Bank and several other lenders are headquartered in the same metro. Rapid City, the second city at about 78,000, sits on the western edge of the state near the Black Hills. It serves as the commercial gateway to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the Crazy Horse Memorial that has been under construction since 1948, and Custer State Park. Badlands National Park lies to the east of the Black Hills, with its eroded pinnacles and mixed-grass prairie.
Nine federally recognized tribes hold reservation land in South Dakota, among them the Oglala Sioux at Pine Ridge, the Rosebud Sioux, the Cheyenne River Sioux, and the Standing Rock Sioux (shared with North Dakota). Agriculture remains the largest sector of the economy outside the Sioux Falls financial corridor. Corn and soybeans dominate the east, and beef cattle production anchors the western counties, with South Dakota consistently ranking among the top states for cattle inventory.
The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally draws several hundred thousand visitors to the Black Hills each August, temporarily making the tiny town of Sturgis one of the busiest places in the Upper Midwest. Interstate 90 runs east-west across the entire state and is the primary corridor linking Sioux Falls, the Missouri River crossing at Chamberlain, and Rapid City.
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South Dakota holds roughly 910,000 people across 77,116 square miles, making it the fifth least populous state. The Missouri River bisects the state almost exactly down the middle and has historically marked the dividing line between the farming country to the east and the ranching and grassland country to the west. Sioux Falls is the largest city at about 200,000 and sits in the southeastern corner near the Iowa and Minnesota borders. Pierre, the capital, has fewer than 14,000 residents and ranks as the smallest state capital in the country by population.
Sioux Falls is built on financial services to an unusual degree for a city of its size. Citibank moved its credit card operations to South Dakota in 1981 to take advantage of the state's favorable usury laws, and First Premier Bank and several other lenders are headquartered in the same metro. Rapid City, the second city at about 78,000, sits on the western edge of the state near the Black Hills. It serves as the commercial gateway to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the Crazy Horse Memorial that has been under construction since 1948, and Custer State Park. Badlands National Park lies to the east of the Black Hills, with its eroded pinnacles and mixed-grass prairie.
Nine federally recognized tribes hold reservation land in South Dakota, among them the Oglala Sioux at Pine Ridge, the Rosebud Sioux, the Cheyenne River Sioux, and the Standing Rock Sioux (shared with North Dakota). Agriculture remains the largest sector of the economy outside the Sioux Falls financial corridor. Corn and soybeans dominate the east, and beef cattle production anchors the western counties, with South Dakota consistently ranking among the top states for cattle inventory.
The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally draws several hundred thousand visitors to the Black Hills each August, temporarily making the tiny town of Sturgis one of the busiest places in the Upper Midwest. Interstate 90 runs east-west across the entire state and is the primary corridor linking Sioux Falls, the Missouri River crossing at Chamberlain, and Rapid City.
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