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Public schools in South Dakota

140,592 pupils attended 706 public schools in South Dakota in 2024–25, in 165 school districts. Its districts spent $12,004 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $16,398 nationally.

South Dakota, 2024–25

140.6 thousand
Pupils
140,592
0.3% of the nation's public school pupils.
706
Public schools
Operational public schools in NCES’s 2024–25 directory.
13.8
Pupils per teacher
Over the 699 schools that report both counts; nationally 15.2.
0
Charter schools
No charter schools in 2024–25.
$12,004
Spending per pupil
Current spending over fall membership, fiscal year 2023.

South Dakota over time

South Dakota's public school enrollment excluding pre-kindergarten fell by 732 from its peak in 2022–⁠23 to 2024–⁠25

Public school membership in South Dakota each fall, 2014–⁠15 to 2024–⁠25: all grades, and excluding pre-kindergarten, which is the line the title reads.

Membership is the October 1 count of pupils on a school’s rolls, as the state reported it to NCES.

Every year here reports its pre-kindergarten pupils.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES Common Core of Data — public school membership by state, 2014–15 onwards

The figures behind this chart
South Dakota's public school enrollment excluding pre-kindergarten fell by 732 from its peak in 2022–23 to 2024–25. Public school membership in South Dakota each fall, 2014–15 to 2024–25: all grades, and excluding pre-kindergarten, which is the line the title reads.
School yearAll gradesExcluding pre-kindergartenPre-kindergarten
2014–⁠15133,040130,2532,787
2015–⁠16134,253131,1413,112
2016–⁠17136,302133,0123,290
2017–⁠18137,823134,4303,393
2018–⁠19138,975135,5483,427
2019–⁠20139,949136,6373,312
2020–⁠21139,566136,3903,176
2021–⁠22141,307137,9433,364
2022–⁠23141,888138,5303,358
2023–⁠24141,467138,2163,251
2024–⁠25141,065137,7983,267

South Dakota's school districts spent $12,004 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $7,200 in 2005, in each year's dollars

Current spending per pupil in South Dakota, fiscal years 2005 to 2023: current spending over fall membership, summed over every district. In each year’s dollars, not adjusted for inflation.

Not adjusted for inflation: a dollar in 2005 bought more than a dollar in 2023, and this chart does not say how much more.

Each year is the release NCES has published for it: provisional for most, final for fiscal years 2019 to 2022. A final release revises the provisional one by well under 1% nationally.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33) — every fiscal year in the current format

The figures behind this chart
South Dakota's school districts spent $12,004 per pupil in fiscal year 2023, against $7,200 in 2005, in each year's dollars. Current spending per pupil in South Dakota, fiscal years 2005 to 2023: current spending over fall membership, summed over every district. In each year’s dollars, not adjusted for inflation.
Fiscal yearPer pupilPupilsRelease
FY2005$7,200124,862Provisional
FY2006$7,653121,718Provisional
FY2007$7,945121,158Provisional
FY2008$8,309121,606Provisional
FY2009$8,358126,624Provisional
FY2010$8,847123,709Provisional
FY2011$8,794125,758Provisional
FY2012$8,437127,875Provisional
FY2013$8,461130,433Provisional
FY2014$8,873130,775Provisional
FY2015$8,929132,948Provisional
FY2016$9,175134,061Provisional
FY2017$9,938136,135Provisional
FY2018$10,072137,529Provisional
FY2019$10,137138,671Final
FY2020$10,206139,709Final
FY2021$10,950139,318Final
FY2022$11,562141,043Final
FY2023$12,004141,377Provisional

Where South Dakota’s districts got their money, fiscal year 2023

Revenue of all 167 districts in NCES’s finance file, by source. Nationally, 12.6% came from federal sources.

Local sources gave South Dakota's school districts 48.8% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023

Revenue of South Dakota's public school districts by source, fiscal year 2023, as a share of their total revenue.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES School District Finance Survey (F-33) — newest fiscal year

The figures behind this chart
Local sources gave South Dakota's school districts 48.8% of their revenue in fiscal year 2023. Revenue of South Dakota's public school districts by source, fiscal year 2023, as a share of their total revenue.
SourceRevenueShare of revenue
Federal$443.6 million20.5%
State$664.5 million30.7%
Local$1.1 billion48.8%

The largest districts in South Dakota

By fall membership in 2024–25. Spending per pupil is the same district’s fiscal year 2023 figure from NCES’s finance file, where it reports one.

The 10 largest public school districts in South Dakota, 2024–25
DistrictPupilsSchoolsPupils per teacherSpending per pupil, fiscal year 2023
Sioux Falls School District 49-525,0514414.8$11,456
Rapid City Area School District 51-412,3082516.0$10,377
Harrisburg School District 41-26,2221113.5$11,031
Brandon Valley School District 49-25,115717.6$10,306
Aberdeen School District 06-14,233914.0$10,673
Watertown School District 14-43,606815.1$10,402
Brookings School District 05-13,546915.3$11,811
Huron School District 02-23,0681116.9$12,082
Meade School District 46-13,0471114.2$9,885
Yankton School District 63-33,021616.8$10,904

City, suburb, town and rural schools in South Dakota

40.2% of South Dakota's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–⁠25

Pupils in South Dakota's operational public schools by the kind of place each school is in, 2024–⁠25: NCES's twelve locales grouped into city, suburb, town and rural.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education — NCES Common Core of Data — public schools, newest full school year

The figures behind this chart
40.2% of South Dakota's public school pupils attended rural schools in 2024–25. Pupils in South Dakota's operational public schools by the kind of place each school is in, 2024–25: NCES's twelve locales grouped into city, suburb, town and rural.
LocaleSchoolsShare of schoolsPupilsShare of pupils
City8211.6%39,62328.2%
Suburb60.8%2,1321.5%
Town9613.6%42,26230.1%
Rural52273.9%56,57540.2%

Colleges in South Dakota that take federal student aid

23 colleges in South Dakota are in NCES’s IPEDS universe for 2025–26: 13 public, 5 private nonprofit and 5 private for-profit. They enrolled 72,426 students over twelve months and awarded 5,561 bachelor’s degrees.

South Dakota elsewhere on the Factbook

  • Reported crimeCrime and justice

    Offenses reported to police by type, the trend, and the reporting coverage.

  • Most dangerous cities in South DakotaCrime and justice

    What each agency serving 25,000 or more reported, ranked. Agency populations overlap, so these do not add up to the state.

  • Prison populationCrime and justice

    People held under the state’s correctional authority, and the imprisonment rate. A different publisher counting a different thing.

  • Arrests by race, sex and ageCrime and justice

    Arrests as the FBI’s participating agencies reported them, with what the figures can and cannot support at the top.

  • Hate crimeCrime and justice

    Incidents reported to the FBI by bias motivation, as counts — the collection publishes no participation share, so there is no rate to compare states on.

  • Federal obligationsFederal spending

    What federal agencies obligated against a place of performance in the state, per resident and by agency.

  • Registered nonprofitsNonprofits

    How many organizations the IRS lists in the state, what they report as revenue, and which kinds of work they do.

  • Payments to doctorsHealth

    What drug and device companies reported paying doctors with a practice address in the state, and the largest recipients.

  • Farm program paymentsFarm subsidies

    What the Farm Service Agency paid through the state’s county offices, by program and by recipient. The offices that administered the payments, not a count of farms: a recipient addressed elsewhere is counted where they were paid.

  • Paycheck Protection Program loansPPP loans

    The PPP loans SBA guaranteed to businesses operating in the state, by county, with how many carry a forgiveness amount and how many were charged off. Loans, not businesses: a business with two draws is two loans.

  • The South Dakota Factbook entryAcross the Factbook

    Every measure the Factbook publishes for this state in one place, each with where it ranks among the others and the record it came from.

The immigration hub has no page for this state: EOIR runs no immigration court here, and CBP publishes by sector and field office, which are its own areas of responsibility rather than a geography. Immigration and the border.

Sources

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), 2024–25; “School District Finance Survey (F-33),” fiscal year 2023; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

Data retrieved