These Are The 10 Best Places In South Dakota To Catch Pokemon

So, you want to catch ’em all, huh?
Pokemon Go has swept the nation, and the app has broken records for the most downloads in the first week of release. All over the country, people are swarming, gathering, and all around going nuts, playing this interactive game.
Since we’re a data analytics website, and because we’re often cited as the ‘go to’ place for regional infotainment, we thought it was our duty to be as helpful as we can for people in South Dakota who want to have the inside scoop as to where they should go if they want to dominate this addicting game.
After analyzing every place in South Dakota, here is our list of the best places to catch Pokemon in the Mount Rushmore State:

1. Box Elder (Photos)
2. Brandon (Photos)
3. Spearfish (Photos)
4. Sturgis (Photos)
5. Madison (Photos)
6. Pierre (Photos)
7. Yankton (Photos)
8. Mitchell (Photos)
9. Brookings (Photos)
10. Huron (Photos)

As you might note, these are all smaller suburbs of major cities in South Dakota. That’s because in smaller cities, there are a higher number of places per capita where Pokemon are traditionally found. Meaning you’ll find more Pokemon in a much smaller area. When you read the analysis below, this will all make sense. Trust us.
So, grab your avatars, cell phones, and your Poke Balls as we uncover the truly best places in South Dakota in which to find the most Pokemon, based on data.
For more South Dakota reading , check out:

• 10 Most Diverse Cities In South Dakota
• 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In South Dakota
• 10 Cheapest Places To Live In South Dakota

How do you decide where the best place is to catch Pokemon?

In order to rank the best places in South Dakota in which to catch ’em all, we had to determine which cities, towns and villages in South Dakota have the most places to find Pokemon.
So we scraped the internet for those criteria, and it spit out the answer. Like magic.

How we crunched the numbers

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using Google Maps, this is the criteria we used:

• Number of parks per capita
• Number of museums per capita
• Number of churches per capita
• Number of memorials and public gathering places per capita

If you’d like to see the complete list of cities, scroll to the bottom of this post to see a chart of the top cities.
Note: When measuring the locations listed above, we measured the locations within a short drive of the center of each place in South Dakota.

1. Box Elder

Population: 8,683
Parks Per 1,000 People: 3.57
Museums Per 1,000 People: 0.81
Churches Per 1,000 People: 6.91
Public Gathering Places Per 1,000 People: 1.15

2. Brandon

Population: 9,350
Parks Per 1,000 People: 5.99
Museums Per 1,000 People: 0.86
Churches Per 1,000 People: 6.42
Public Gathering Places Per 1,000 People: 0.32

3. Spearfish

Population: 10,836
Parks Per 1,000 People: 1.57
Museums Per 1,000 People: 0.65
Churches Per 1,000 People: 3.51
Public Gathering Places Per 1,000 People: 0.37

4. Sturgis

Population: 6,652
Parks Per 1,000 People: 2.86
Museums Per 1,000 People: 0.6
Churches Per 1,000 People: 3.16
Public Gathering Places Per 1,000 People: 0.45

5. Madison

Population: 6,830
Parks Per 1,000 People: 1.46
Museums Per 1,000 People: 0.29
Churches Per 1,000 People: 3.22
Public Gathering Places Per 1,000 People: 0.73

6. Pierre

Population: 13,885
Parks Per 1,000 People: 1.22
Museums Per 1,000 People: 0.43
Churches Per 1,000 People: 1.87
Public Gathering Places Per 1,000 People: 0.29

7. Yankton

Population: 14,513
Parks Per 1,000 People: 1.24
Museums Per 1,000 People: 0.07
Churches Per 1,000 People: 2.27
Public Gathering Places Per 1,000 People: 0.34

8. Mitchell

Population: 15,490
Parks Per 1,000 People: 0.97
Museums Per 1,000 People: 0.45
Churches Per 1,000 People: 1.81
Public Gathering Places Per 1,000 People: 0.26

9. Brookings

Population: 22,645
Parks Per 1,000 People: 1.37
Museums Per 1,000 People: 0.18
Churches Per 1,000 People: 1.77
Public Gathering Places Per 1,000 People: 0.18

10. Huron

Population: 12,982
Parks Per 1,000 People: 0.46
Museums Per 1,000 People: 0.15
Churches Per 1,000 People: 2.16
Public Gathering Places Per 1,000 People: 0.31

There You Have It

If you’re looking at communities in South Dakota where you have a much higher chance of catching Pokemon, this is an accurate list.
If you’re also curious enough, here’s how the larger cities in South Dakota with the most reliable locations to catch a Pokemon rank, according to science.

1. Spearfish (Photos)
2. Mitchell (Photos)
3. Pierre (Photos)
4. Huron (Photos)
5. Yankton (Photos)

For more South Dakota reading, check out:

• 10 Cheapest Places To Live In South Dakota
• 10 Best Places To Live In South Dakota
• 10 Safest Places In South Dakota

Detailed List Of The Best Places In South Dakota To Catch Pokemon

Rank	City	Population
1	Box Elder	8,683
2	Brandon	9,350
3	Spearfish	10,836
4	Sturgis	6,652
5	Madison	6,830
6	Pierre	13,885
7	Yankton	14,513
8	Mitchell	15,490
9	Brookings	22,645
10	Huron	12,982
11	Belle Fourche	5,677
12	Vermillion	10,697
13	Aberdeen	26,979
14	Watertown	21,795
15	Sioux Falls	160,964