Dewey County, South Dakota Population and Demographics

In this article, we'll explore the population statistics for Dewey County, South Dakota, including popular demographics data like median age, number of households, household income, gender, employment and unemployment rates, occupations, religion, and more.

We are using the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey data from the US Census Bureau, which is accurate up to 2021.

Table of Contents

Population

There is a lot of data that lets us see how many people live in Dewey County, South Dakota. The most basic data is the total population, which is the total number of people living in Dewey County, South Dakota. The estimated population of Dewey County, South Dakota is 5,343 people, with a median age of 28.1.

We can look at the total population in Dewey County over the last 5 years to see how much it has changed.

Year Population Change 5-Year Change
2021
5,343
 -8.53% -6.41%
2020
5,841
+0.14%
-
2019
5,833
+0.93%
-
2018
5,779
+1.23%
-
2017
5,709
 - -

Population of Dewey County, South Dakota by Race and Ethnicity

We can also look at how the population has changed over the last 5 years by each of the race/ethnicity types as defined by the US Census Bureau.

Race 2021 2017 Change
White
18.3%
20.4%
 -10.29%
Black/African American
0.2%
0.1%
 +100.00%
Native
75.4%
77.1%
 -2.20%
Hispanic
4.2%
1.3%
 +223.08%
Asian
0.1%
0.1%
 0.00%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
0.3%
0%
 0.00%
Two Or More Races
1.4%
1%
 +40.00%
Other
0%
0%
 0.00%

This data can be very important for a number of reasons, including social and economic research, planning and development, and marketing to a multi-cultural population.

Note that the Native group includes both Native American and Alaskan Native people.

Population of Dewey County, South Dakota by Age and Gender

The age and gender of a population is another interesting demographic statistic because it lets us track trends in the population over time. For example, we can see how the population has changed over the last 5 years by median age as a total, and also by male and female.

Year Total Male Female
2021 28.1 +2.55% 28.2 +7.22% 27.9 -4.12%
2020 27.4 +1.86% 26.3 +0.77% 29.1 +0.69%
2019 26.9 -3.24% 26.1 -2.25% 28.9 -1.03%
2018 27.8 -0.71% 26.7 -0.74% 29.2 -0.68%
2017 28 - 26.9 - 29.4 -

The median age of Dewey County, South Dakota gives you an idea of the age distribution, with half of the population being older than the median age and half being younger.

This can then be used to infer and compare against birth rates, parent ages, and more metrics to understand the population. For example, an increasing median age indicates an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population in terms of birth rates and workforce participation.

Age 2021 2017
(Years) Male Female Male Female
0 to 9 615 +8.2% 608 -7.05% 663 565
10 to 19 515 -13.69% 454 +2.67% 440 463
20 to 29 374 -16.43% 410 -15.72% 311 349
30 to 39 330 -1.5% 300 +14.28% 324 343
40 to 49 271 -14.6% 335 -36.28% 233 228
50 to 59 361 -19.48% 360 -22.87% 295 284
60 to 69 198 +39.55% 209 0.64% 281 203
70+ 159 -6.98% 210 +1.9% 147 214

Median Household Income

The latest median household income of Dewey County, South Dakota is $46,087.00.

In simple terms, the median income is the middle income of a group of people. Half of the people in the group make more than the median income, and half make less. The median income is a good indicator of the overall income of a group of people, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more.

Median Income by Age

We can also look at the median income by age to see how the median income varies by age, and how it compares to the overall median income for Dewey County.

  • Under 25
    $49,500.00
  • 25 to 44
    $48,295.00
  • 45 to 64
    $49,444.00
  • 65 and over
    $39,688.00

Average Household Income

Whenever we ask what is the average household income in Dewey County, we are actually talking about the mean household income.

This is calculated by adding up all the incomes of all the households in Dewey County, and then dividing that number by the total number of households. This is a good way to get a general idea of the average income of a group of people, but it can be skewed by a very high or very low incomes.

The average household income of Dewey County, South Dakota is currently $59,354.00.

In terms of accurately summarizing income at a geographic level, the median income is a better metric than the average income because it isn't affected by a small number of very high or very low incomes.

If you had an area where the average income was greater than the median, it can mean that there is significant income inequality, with income being concentrated in a small number of wealthy households.

1.39% of households in Dewey County are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).

Household Income Tiers

The US Census Bureau divides households into income tiers based on the median income for the area. This is a good way to compare the income of Dewey County against other areas.

  • Less than $24,999
    24.06%
  • $25,000 to $49,999
    28.79%
  • $50,000 to $74,999
    22.67%
  • $75,000 to $99,999
    8.91%
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    9.58%
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    4.61%
  • $200,000 or more
    1.39%

Per Capita Income

The per capita income in Dewey County is $18,469.00.

Per capita income is the average income of a person in a given area. It is calculated by dividing the total income of Dewey County by the total population of Dewey County.

This is different from the average or mean income because it includes and accounts for all people in Dewey County, South Dakota, including people like children, the elderly, unemployed people, retired people, and more.

Education Levels

We can also look at the education levels in Dewey County to see how many people have a high school degree, a bachelor's degree, or a graduate degree.

Educational attainment is a good indicator of the overall education level of a population, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more to see how education levels affect income, unemployment rates, and more.

  • Master's degree or higher
    9.21%
  • Bachelor's degree
    23.33%
  • Some college or associate's degree
    8.05%
  • High school diploma or equivalent
    59.00%
  • Less than high school diploma
    0.41%

Employment

Employment rates are all based around the total population in Dewey County that are over the age of 16.

The total population of Dewey County over the age of 16 is 3,525.

Of those people, a total of 68.10% are working or actively looking for work. This is called the labor force participation rate.

The participation rate is a useful market measure because it shows the relative amount of labor resources available to the economy.

The employment to total population rate in Dewey County is 55.10%.

Employment by Age

We can look at the employment rates by age to see how it compares to the overall employment rate.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
16 to 19 years 313 32.30% 40.60%
20 to 24 years 314 71.70% 41.50%
25 to 29 years 346 78.00% 21.90%
30 to 34 years 297 99.00% 34.00%
35 to 44 years 605 84.00% 13.00%
45 to 54 years 524 78.40% 16.80%
55 to 59 years 281 74.00% 1.90%
60 to 64 years 342 71.90% 7.70%
65 to 74 years 307 34.90% 2.80%
75 years and over 196 15.80% 0.00%

Employment by Race

Another very interesting employment statistic we can look at is the employment and unemployment rates by race in Dewey County. The table below shows the rates for each of the ethnicity groups types defined by the US Census Bureau.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
White 819 71.70% 0.70%
Black or African American 11 100.00% 0.00%
American Indian and Alaska Native 2,543 65.20% 25.90%
Asian 8 62.50% 0.00%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 15 100.00% 0.00%
Other 20 95.00% 57.90%
Two or more races 109 98.20% 6.50%
Hispanic or Latino 130 89.20% 15.50%
Not Hispanic or Latino 798 70.90% 0.70%

Occupations

In this section we can look at the most common occupations in Dewey County as well as the gender breakdown and earnings of them.

The total population of civilian employees that are 16 years old or older in Dewey County is 1,942, with median earnings of $33,344.00.

Women in Dewey County, South Dakota earning approximately 88.60% of the men's earnings.

Population Earnings
Total 1,942 $33,344.00
Male 963 $34,365.00
Female 979 $30,462.00

Occupations by Category

In the table below, we can break down the population and earnings even further by occupation. The list of occupation categories below will show you how many people are employed in each category and the median earnings of each profession.

Occupation Employed Earnings
Management 295 $39,702.00
Business and Financial 44 $44,167.00
Computer and Mathematical 15 $60,938.00
Architecture and Engineering 0 $0.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 31 $36,685.00
Community and Social Service 98 $34,643.00
Legal 26 $51,786.00
Educational and Library 243 $45,481.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 19 $25,893.00
Healthcare Practitioners 48 $87,500.00
Healthcare Support 40 $23,375.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 17 $3,750.00
Law Enforcement 28 $68,750.00
Food Preparation and Serving 88 $14,375.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 77 $33,750.00
Personal Care and Service 74 $20,938.00
Sales 117 $25,083.00
Office and Administrative Support 230 $29,853.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 59 $26,979.00
Construction and Extraction 129 $34,702.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 104 $29,821.00
Production 56 $33,667.00
Transportation and Material Moving 88 $33,750.00

Occupations by Gender

The table below shows the same occupations from the list above, but we have split them by male and female to see how many male and females work in each occupation, the median earnings, and the male to female ratio of earnings.

That last metric is important because it can be used to look at the gender pay gap between men and women.

Occupation Male Female
Population Earnings Population Earnings
Management 168 $38,214.00 127 $40,521.00
Business and Financial 11 $31,964.00 33 $44,792.00
Computer and Mathematical 15 $60,938.00 0 $0.00
Architecture and Engineering 0 $0.00 0 $0.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 4 $0.00 27 $0.00
Community and Social Service 47 $34,375.00 51 $35,417.00
Legal 6 $0.00 20 $51,250.00
Educational and Library 53 $50,125.00 190 $42,955.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 11 $6,964.00 8 $0.00
Healthcare Practitioners 4 $0.00 44 $82,500.00
Healthcare Support 15 $23,036.00 25 $23,558.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 2 $0.00 15 $2,499.00
Law Enforcement 28 $68,750.00 0 $0.00
Food Preparation and Serving 30 $10,714.00 58 $19,375.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 61 $35,474.00 16 $20,000.00
Personal Care and Service 0 $0.00 74 $20,938.00
Sales 55 $55,417.00 62 $15,682.00
Office and Administrative Support 27 $50,417.00 203 $29,044.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 59 $26,979.00 0 $0.00
Construction and Extraction 121 $35,536.00 8 $0.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 98 $29,286.00 6 $0.00
Production 52 $33,778.00 4 $0.00
Transportation and Material Moving 82 $31,250.00 6 $0.00

Households and Family Size

A household defined bu the US Census Bureau is a group of people who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room occupied as separate living quarters.

There are currently 1,650 households in Dewey County, with an average household size of 3.21 people.

A family is defined as a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together in the same household.

There are 1,146 families in Dewey County with an average family size of 3.93 people.

Households by Marital Status

The four categories of household by marital status are:

  • Married-couple family
  • Male householder with no spouse present
  • Female household with no spouse present
  • Nonfamily household

The table below shows the total number of households and families, with the average sizes of each.

Married Male Female Nonfamily
Total Households 602 173 371 504
Average Household Size 4.19 3.37 4.29 1.19
Total Families 602 173 371 0
Average Household Size 4.15 3.09 3.95 0

Poverty

Of the 1,146 families in Dewey County, 28.70% are considered to be below the poverty threshold.

The table below shows the latest poverty thresholds in Dewey County:

Household Size Poverty Threshold
1 Person $14,580.00
2 People $19,720.00
3 People $24,860.00
4 People $30,000.00
5 People $35,140.00
6 People $40,280.00
7 People $45,420.00
8 People $50,560.00

Housing

There are 1,941 housing units in Dewey County, South Dakota.

The table below shows the split between occupied and vacant units:

Total Percentage
Occupied 1,650 85.01%
Vacant 291 14.99%

31.32% of the total 1,941 housing units in Dewey County are rental units. This is approximately 608 properties.

For owner-occupied housing units, a total of 962 are occupied by the owner - or 49.56% of the total.

Rental Rates

The median rent for a property in Dewey County is $601.00.

In the chart below, we can look at the number of rental properties in Dewey County that fall into a particular rent range. These can then be used to compare with other areas, or to see how they have changed over time.

  • No rent paid
    80
  • Less than $500
    207
  • $500 to $999
    376
  • $1,000 to $1,499
    25
  • $1,500 to $1,999
    0
  • $2,000 to $2,499
    0
  • $2,500 to $2,999
    0
  • $3,000 or more
    0

Property Value

The median value of a property in Dewey County is $65,000.00.

Just like with rental rates, we can look at the number of properties in Dewey County that fall into a particular value range.

  • Less than $50,000
    364
  • $50,000 to $99,999
    298
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    87
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    51
  • $200,000 to $299,999
    89
  • $300,000 to $499,999
    42
  • $500,000 to $999,999
    27
  • $1,000,000 or more
    4

Property Age

We can also look at the age of properties in Dewey County. The chart below shows the number of properties in Dewey County that fall into a particular age range.

  • 1939 or earlier
    179
  • 1940 to 1949
    84
  • 1950 to 1959
    172
  • 1960 to 1969
    226
  • 1970 to 1979
    471
  • 1980 to 1989
    339
  • 1990 to 1999
    264
  • 2000 to 2009
    152
  • 2010 to 2013
    51
  • 2014 or later
    3

Vehicles per Household

The number of vehicles available per household can be a good indicator of the level of affluence in an area. The chart below shows the number of households in Dewey County that have a particular number of vehicles available.

  • No vehicles available
    91
  • 1 vehicle available
    668
  • 2 vehicles available
    484
  • 3 or more vehicles available
    407

Commuting to Work

In this section, we can also look at how people in Dewey County get to work. The chart below shows the number of people in Dewey County that commute to work in a particular way.

16.3 minutes is the average travel time to work for people in Dewey County.

These commute times can be compared to other date like income and educational levels to see how they relate to each other and if there are any trends in the data that might suggest a correlation.

  • Less than 5 minutes
    91
  • 5 to 9 minutes
    181
  • 10 to 14 minutes
    794
  • 15 to 19 minutes
    130
  • 20 to 24 minutes
    169
  • 25 to 29 minutes
    7
  • 30 to 34 minutes
    87
  • 35 to 39 minutes
    8
  • 40 to 44 minutes
    61
  • 45 to 59 minutes
    111
  • 60 to 89 minutes
    26
  • 90 or more minutes
    7

Summary

We've covered a LOT of demographic and population data for Dewey County, South Dakota in this article! Hopefully you have found it very useful in your research of the area.

If you use any of the data found on this page, please consider linking back to USPopulation.org as the source and if you have any feedback or data requests, click here to contact us.

Places in Dewey County, South Dakota

We have data for 7 places in Dewey County, South Dakota. Click on a place below to see more information about the demographics of that place.