We used Saturday Night Science to analyze South Dakota’s most recent Census data to determine the divorce rate for each city in South Dakota based on the percentage of currently divorced residents.
The city with the highest divorce rate in South Dakota is Sisseton, with 14.0% of people over 15 years of age being divorced, per the most recent census data. The city with the lowest divorce rate in South Dakota is North Sioux City.
South Dakota is 6.0% divorced overall. There are some 43,556 people living in South Dakota over fifteen years of age who are divorced. You can compare that to the 28,339,199 Americans who are currently divorced.
Isn’t the divorce rate in America close to 50%? Yes indeed. But we’re measuring something else; we are looking at counts and percentages of people over 15 years old who are currently divorced. That 50% statistic is for the percentage of people who have ever been divorced.
So now that we have you biting your nails, rethinking your worldview, and pulling out your hair, let’s look at the places in South Dakota with the highest rates of divorcees.
14.0% divorced · #1 highest divorce rate in South Dakota
13.0% divorced · #2 highest divorce rate in South Dakota
13.0% divorced · #2 highest divorce rate in South Dakota
12.0% divorced · #4 highest divorce rate in South Dakota
12.0% divorced · #4 highest divorce rate in South Dakota
11.0% divorced · #6 highest divorce rate in South Dakota
11.0% divorced · #6 highest divorce rate in South Dakota
10.0% divorced · #9 highest divorce rate in South Dakota
10.0% divorced · #9 highest divorce rate in South Dakota
Hot Springs is a city in and the county seat of Fall River County, South Dakota, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,711. In addition, neighboring Oglala Lakota County contracts the duties of Auditor, Treasurer and Register of Deeds to the Fall River County authority in Hot Springs.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
10.0% divorced · #9 highest divorce rate in South Dakota
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is South Dakota’s statewide median.
South Dakota statewide median: $75,081
On the map
Where South Dakota’s highest divorce rates are
Saturday Night Science
How We Determined The Places In South Dakota That Get Un-Hitched The Most
We used Saturday Night Science to look at the U.S. Census Bureau on divorce rates. Because who likes tracking misery more than the U.S. government?
Specifically, we looked at the 2020-2024 American Community Survey table S1201 — Marital Status. Pretty straightforward on that front — we just had to extract the following column of data:
Today, the analysis focuses on the 63 places in South Dakota with a population of over 1,000.
- Population 15 Years and Over -> Divorced
We ranked each place by the percentage of divorcees over 15 years of age from highest to lowest. We crowned the divorce capital of South Dakota the place with the highest incidence of divorcees, Sisseton.
And if you’re trying to avoid divorce, check out North Sioux City, the city with the lowest divorce rate in South Dakota. We updated this article for 2026 and this list is our eleventh time ranking the cities in South Dakota with the highest divorce rates.
The full plate
Cities With The Highest Divorce Rates In South Dakota
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Divorcees | Divorce Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sisseton | 2,670 | 299 | 14.0% |
| 2 | Clark | 1,359 | 141 | 13.0% |
| 2 | Eagle Butte | 1,458 | 152 | 13.0% |
| 4 | Redfield | 1,989 | 191 | 12.0% |
| 4 | Parker | 1,280 | 123 | 12.0% |
| 6 | Parkston | 1,874 | 165 | 11.0% |
| 6 | Miller | 1,363 | 120 | 11.0% |
| 9 | Webster | 1,896 | 152 | 10.0% |
| 9 | Hot Springs | 3,548 | 284 | 10.0% |
| 9 | Canton | 3,033 | 243 | 10.0% |
| 13 | Springfield | 2,038 | 147 | 9.0% |
| 13 | Chamberlain | 2,588 | 186 | 9.0% |
| 13 | Ipswich | 1,048 | 75 | 9.0% |
| 13 | Pierre | 13,948 | 1,004 | 9.0% |
| 13 | Gettysburg | 1,260 | 91 | 9.0% |
| 17 | Garretson | 1,176 | 75 | 8.0% |
| 17 | Deadwood | 1,209 | 77 | 8.0% |
| 17 | Tyndall | 1,183 | 76 | 8.0% |
| 24 | Flandreau | 2,392 | 134 | 7.0% |
| 24 | Freeman | 1,565 | 88 | 7.0% |
| 24 | Belle Fourche | 5,804 | 325 | 7.0% |
| 24 | Lennox | 2,468 | 138 | 7.0% |
| 24 | Rapid City | 77,946 | 4,365 | 7.0% |
| 24 | Aberdeen | 28,189 | 1,579 | 7.0% |
| 24 | Mission | 1,539 | 86 | 7.0% |
| 24 | Milbank | 3,525 | 197 | 7.0% |
| 24 | Mobridge | 2,932 | 164 | 7.0% |
| 24 | Groton | 1,691 | 95 | 7.0% |
| 24 | Huron | 14,385 | 806 | 7.0% |
| 35 | Madison | 6,094 | 293 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Mitchell | 15,649 | 751 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Worthing | 1,036 | 50 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Sioux Falls | 201,469 | 9,671 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Platte | 1,161 | 56 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Watertown | 23,044 | 1,106 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Crooks | 1,268 | 61 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Fort Pierre | 2,410 | 116 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Brandon | 10,996 | 528 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Harrisburg | 8,519 | 409 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Gregory | 1,379 | 66 | 6.0% |
| 35 | Yankton | 15,540 | 746 | 6.0% |
| 45 | Custer | 2,341 | 94 | 5.0% |
| 45 | Baltic | 1,502 | 60 | 5.0% |
| 45 | Wagner | 1,529 | 61 | 5.0% |
| 45 | Salem | 1,216 | 49 | 5.0% |
| 45 | Volga | 2,408 | 96 | 5.0% |
| 45 | Sturgis | 7,086 | 283 | 5.0% |
| 45 | Winner | 2,905 | 116 | 5.0% |
| 45 | Lemmon | 1,208 | 48 | 5.0% |
| 53 | Box Elder | 12,902 | 413 | 4.0% |
| 53 | Summerset | 3,022 | 97 | 4.0% |
| 53 | Spearfish | 12,930 | 414 | 4.0% |
| 53 | Dell Rapids | 3,905 | 125 | 4.0% |
| 53 | Tea | 6,786 | 217 | 4.0% |
| 53 | Brookings | 23,948 | 766 | 4.0% |
| 53 | Clear Lake | 1,327 | 42 | 4.0% |
| 57 | Lead | 3,006 | 72 | 3.0% |
| 57 | Beresford | 2,360 | 57 | 3.0% |
| 60 | Elk Point | 2,537 | 41 | 2.0% |
| 60 | Aurora | 1,444 | 23 | 2.0% |
| 60 | Vermillion | 11,878 | 190 | 2.0% |
| 62 | Hartford | 3,478 | 28 | 1.0% |
| 63 | North Sioux City | 3,045 | 0 | 0.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 63 cities with more than 1,000 residents.
Summary
Getting Some Closure In South Dakota After Untying The Knot
We now have a sense of what places in the Mount Rushmore State don’t pay much attention to the whole “’til death do we part” phrase.
The cities with the highest divorce rate in South Dakota are Sisseton, Clark, Eagle Butte, Redfield, Parker, Parkston, Miller, Webster, Hot Springs, and Canton.
Try to keep in mind that the reason cities rank where they do in South Dakota could be because of the age, education, and income distribution, as all of those things impact the rate of divorce.
