Which South Dakota counties score best for off-grid living?

Of the 66 South Dakota counties we have scored, Union County scores highest at 86 and Stanley County lowest at 56. South Dakota ranks 39th of 50 overall, at 72 out of 100 (Significant challenges). Water separates its counties most: 1 to 17 out of 25.

Updated 2026-09-27 · 66 counties · 342 spots of private rural land scored

Significant challengesSouth Dakota ranks 39th of 50, 72 out of 100, in the Best States ranking: the typical parcel on the state's private rural land, with each scored spot weighted by the land it stands for. On a fresh draw of counties it would rank between #39 and #42. City counties with little private rural land have no page, and any parcel can be scored, free, below.

Every scored county in South Dakota, best score first

Find a county66 counties


Union → 37 people / sq mi	86	17	20	12	14	14	9
Bon Homme → 13 people / sq mi	83	12	20	13	15	13	10
Grant → 11 people / sq mi	82	17	20	11	13	11	10
Yankton → 45 people / sq mi	82	11	20	13	15	13	10
Clay → 38 people / sq mi	81	13	20	12	14	13	9
Lincoln → 127 people / sq mi	81	13	20	12	14	13	9
Minnehaha → 257 people / sq mi	81	15	20	12	12	13	9
Tripp → 4 people / sq mi	81	14	19	13	15	10	10
Marshall → 5 people / sq mi	80	16	20	10	14	10	10
Roberts → 9 people / sq mi	80	16	20	10	13	11	10
Codington → 42 people / sq mi	79	14	20	11	13	11	10
Hutchinson → 9 people / sq mi	79	10	20	12	15	12	10
Moody → 12 people / sq mi	79	11	20	12	14	13	9
Todd → 7 people / sq mi	79	14	18	14	14	9	10
Bennett → 3 people / sq mi	78	14	19	14	14	8	9
Brown → 22 people / sq mi	78	13	20	11	14	10	10
Charles Mix → 8 people / sq mi	78	8	20	13	15	12	10
Hamlin → 13 people / sq mi	78	12	20	11	14	11	10
Potter → 3 people / sq mi	78	13	20	12	14	9	10
Turner → 15 people / sq mi	78	11	20	12	13	13	9
Douglas → 7 people / sq mi	77	7	20	13	15	12	10
Gregory → 4 people / sq mi	77	14	18	13	15	10	7
Hyde → 1 people / sq mi	77	13	19	12	14	9	10
Lawrence → 35 people / sq mi	77	12	20	14	14	10	7
McCook → 10 people / sq mi	77	11	20	12	13	11	10
McPherson → 2 people / sq mi	77	13	20	11	14	9	10
Brookings → 45 people / sq mi	76	10	20	12	13	12	9
Day → 5 people / sq mi	76	13	20	10	14	9	10
Faulk → 2 people / sq mi	76	12	20	11	14	9	10
Hanson → 8 people / sq mi	76	9	20	12	13	12	10
Kingsbury → 6 people / sq mi	76	9	20	12	14	11	10
Pennington → 42 people / sq mi	76	12	17	14	15	8	10
Sully → 2 people / sq mi	76	12	19	12	14	9	10
Walworth → 7 people / sq mi	76	14	19	11	14	8	10
Deuel → 7 people / sq mi	75	11	18	11	14	12	9
Jerauld → 3 people / sq mi	75	10	18	12	14	11	10
Campbell → 2 people / sq mi	74	11	20	11	14	8	10
Corson → 2 people / sq mi	74	13	19	12	14	7	9
Hand → 2 people / sq mi	74	10	19	12	14	9	10
Sanborn → 4 people / sq mi	74	9	20	12	12	11	10
Aurora → 4 people / sq mi	73	6	20	12	14	11	10
Custer → 6 people / sq mi	73	11	19	15	14	7	7
Fall River → 4 people / sq mi	73	11	19	15	15	6	7
Hughes → 24 people / sq mi	73	10	19	12	14	8	10
Miner → 4 people / sq mi	73	7	20	12	13	11	10
Edmunds → 4 people / sq mi	72	8	20	11	14	9	10
Jackson → 2 people / sq mi	72	14	15	14	15	7	7
Lake → 20 people / sq mi	72	10	17	12	12	12	9
Meade → 9 people / sq mi	72	12	15	13	15	7	10
Mellette → 1 people / sq mi	72	13	14	13	15	8	9
Oglala Lakota → 6 people / sq mi	72	14	17	14	13	7	7
Perkins → 1 people / sq mi	72	13	18	13	14	7	7
Spink → 4 people / sq mi	72	10	19	11	13	9	10
Buffalo → 4 people / sq mi	71	12	17	12	14	8	8
Brule → 7 people / sq mi	70	3	20	13	14	10	10
Clark → 4 people / sq mi	70	11	14	11	14	10	10
Davison → 46 people / sq mi	70	7	14	12	15	12	10
Beadle → 16 people / sq mi	69	7	18	11	13	10	10
Butte → 5 people / sq mi	68	12	16	13	14	6	7
Haakon → 1 people / sq mi	68	6	19	13	14	8	8
Dewey → 2 people / sq mi	66	11	17	11	14	6	7
Lyman → 2 people / sq mi	65	2	19	13	14	9	8
Harding → under 1 person / sq mi	64	8	16	13	14	6	7
Jones → under 1 person / sq mi	64	2	19	13	15	8	7
Ziebach → 1 people / sq mi	64	11	13	12	14	7	7
Stanley → 2 people / sq mi	56	1	14	12	14	7	8

Score is out of 100: Water 25, Legal 20, Solar 15, Hazard 15, Food 15, Buildability 10. Green cells score 80% or better of their maximum; amber cells under 70%.

Where the good land is

14% of South Dakota's private rural land scores Good with caveats or better (80 or more). The strongest counties are Union, Bon Homme and Grant. The weakest are Stanley, Harding and Jones. Where the land falls short, it is most often on water (rain, wells and salty or weak wells) and growing food (season, soil and water for crops).

What separates them

Water: Union County scores 17 of 25, Stanley County 1. Drinking, system, and irrigation water, the #1 reason off-grid and homestead plans collapse. A low score means a deep, costly well or hauled water.
Food: Union County scores 14 of 15, Harding County 6. Soil quality, frost-free growing days, and rainfall: what decides whether you can actually feed yourself and your animals.
Legal: Union County scores 20 of 20, Ziebach County 13. Whether you can reach the land and live on it: road access, distance to emergency care, internet and cell, and how built up the area is, which decides how many lot-size, livestock, and zoning rules you will meet.
Solar: Custer County scores 15 of 15, Day County 10. Year-round solar potential, including the darkest month, and how much energy it takes to heat and cool a house there. Matters most if you're fully off-grid.
Buildability: Bon Homme County scores 10 of 10, Ziebach County 7. Slope, the septic the ground needs, footings, and the county's land price. A steep or soggy lot that fails a septic test is the dealbreaker photos hide.
Hazard: Bon Homme County scores 15 of 15, Lake County 12. Flood, wildfire, seismic, and severe-weather exposure: the risks that raise insurance and build cost or strand a parcel.

The state's soft spot

Water is South Dakota's weakest dimension, at 11 of 25 for the state as a whole. Drinking, system, and irrigation water, the #1 reason off-grid and homestead plans collapse. A low score means a deep, costly well or hauled water. Getting a parcel here off-grid runs $31k to $240k by our estimates across these counties, before the house. The full South Dakota row in the Best States ranking has the state-wide spread and how the popular off-grid guides rank it.

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Before you buy in South Dakota

The scores read the physical land. Whether you may legally live on it is a separate question, and it changes at the county line: Is it legal to live off-grid in South Dakota? covers zoning, building code, septic, and wells for the state, with the counties that opt out. For the reason water carries a quarter of the score, how you get water on off-grid land is the read. And the five-point check is the order to do it in.

Significant challengesSouth Dakota: 72 of 100, 39th of 50. A good state is not a good parcel. Score the one you are looking at, free, in about a minute.

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