Counties with the highest unemployment in South Dakota
The first jobs report fully under the new Trump administration showed a softening job market, with the unemployment rate ticking up to 4.1% in February, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released March 7.
Job growth increased but fell below expectations, one of several possible fissures appearing in the once rock-solid labor market. Businesses are pulling back on hiring as the economic forecast and policy outlook grow murkier due to volatile trade policies and large cuts to the federal workforce.
Federal government employment fell by 10,000 in February, pushing up total cuts to the federal workforce. In the first two months of 2025, 62,530 federal workers were let go. However, the most recent cuts, including the Department of Education's workforce getting slashed by nearly half, have not yet appeared in official jobs data. Retail employment also fell by 6,000.
The broader unemployment index, known as the U-6, which also includes laborers working part-time because they can't find full-time work, and those who want to work but have given up searching, rose to 8%, its highest since October 2021.
To get a glimpse of regional variations in employment, Stacker compiled a list of counties with the highest unemployment rates in South Dakota, using BLS data. Counties are ranked by their preliminary unemployment rate in January 2025, with initial ties broken by the number of unemployed people within that county, though some ties may remain. County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.
Key takeaways: Jobs report shows softening labor market
February's job growth of 151,000 fell below economists' expected gains of 160,000, showing the labor market is cooling faster than predicted. Experts say many companies weighing policy changes and economic uncertainty are deciding it's safer to hold off on hiring decisions for now.
"If you were a company and you were saying, 'I'm looking to expand, or I'm looking to hire,' you would have investors in those companies saying, 'Are you crazy?'" Ron Hetrick, senior labor economist at Lightcast, told Marketplace.
Consumer spending fell in January for the first time in two years, which may have led to layoffs or hiring slowdowns, Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist, told NBC News.
The big story: From bold promises to frozen labor market
After an initial market pop following Trump's electoral win, indexes have slumped to below when he took office, and uncertainty about the future of the markets is a common theme. Are threatened tariffs in place, delayed, reversed, or ramped up? Has that federal worker been fired or given their job back? Are those federal dollars slashed or reinstated? It's a question mark that changes daily.
Research shows that uncertainty invites lower investment, slows employment, and increases financial market volatility. The word "uncertain" showed up 47 times in the March edition of the Beige Book, the Federal Reserve's snapshot of reports from across the nation, compared to 17 times in the previous report from January.
The new administration's blitz of executive orders and trade policy waffling have cast a dense fog over the short-term economic outlook. One thing that is known? Uncertainty isn't good for business planning, job creation, or hiring.
In a March 12 interview with Semafor, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon noted that average consumers likely don't change "what they're going to do because they read about tariffs," but "companies might."
"Uncertainty is not a good thing," Dimon added.
To get a better idea of your community's current economy, read on to see the counties with the highest unemployment in South Dakota.
47. Davison County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.7%
--- 1-month change: 0.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 11,228 people (186 unemployed)
47. Potter County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.7%
--- 1-month change: -0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,212 people (21 unemployed)
47. Sully County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 772 people (13 unemployed)
47. Lincoln County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.7%
--- 1-month change: +0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 42,275 people (720 unemployed)
45. Sanborn County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.8%
--- 1-month change: 0.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,461 people (26 unemployed)
45. Lawrence County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.8%
--- 1-month change: -0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 15,189 people (273 unemployed)
40. Brookings County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.9%
--- 1-month change: -0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 19,379 people (371 unemployed)
40. Codington County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.9%
--- 1-month change: 0.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 16,682 people (324 unemployed)
40. Douglas County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.9%
--- 1-month change: -0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,359 people (26 unemployed)
40. Beadle County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 8,905 people (165 unemployed)
40. Pennington County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 1.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 58,734 people (1,137 unemployed)
33. Gregory County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,015 people (41 unemployed)
33. Bon Homme County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2%
--- 1-month change: +0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,613 people (53 unemployed)
33. Jerauld County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 868 people (17 unemployed)
33. Butte County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2%
--- 1-month change: +0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 5,507 people (111 unemployed)
33. McCook County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,140 people (64 unemployed)
33. Hamlin County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,597 people (73 unemployed)
33. Meade County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 16,026 people (313 unemployed)
30. McPherson County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.1%
--- 1-month change: -1.0 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,138 people (24 unemployed)
30. Turner County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.1%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,914 people (101 unemployed)
30. Union County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.1%
--- 1-month change: +0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 9,123 people (192 unemployed)
26. Minnehaha County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 118,957 people (2,589 unemployed)
26. Edmunds County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,939 people (43 unemployed)
26. Moody County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,344 people (75 unemployed)
26. Brown County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.2%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 20,240 people (450 unemployed)
24. Hutchinson County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.3%
--- 1-month change: -0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: 0.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,048 people (94 unemployed)
24. Corson County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.3%
--- 1-month change: -0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,134 people (26 unemployed)
23. Mellette County
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.4%
--- 1-month change: -0.8 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 744 people (18 unemployed)
21. Lyman County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.5%
--- 1-month change: -0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: 0.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,629 people (40 unemployed)
21. Kingsbury County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.5%
--- 1-month change: +0.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,580 people (64 unemployed)
17. Bennett County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.6%
--- 1-month change: -0.9 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,278 people (33 unemployed)
17. Spink County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,082 people (81 unemployed)
17. Custer County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.6%
--- 1-month change: -0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,475 people (118 unemployed)
17. Clark County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.7 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,837 people (47 unemployed)
14. Campbell County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.8%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 706 people (20 unemployed)
14. Day County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.8%
--- 1-month change: +0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,748 people (77 unemployed)
14. Miner County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.8%
--- 1-month change: -0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.8 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,166 people (33 unemployed)
12. Hanson County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 1,774 people (51 unemployed)
12. Marshall County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 2.9%
--- 1-month change: +0.6 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,410 people (70 unemployed)
11. Fall River County
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.1%
--- 1-month change: +0.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,322 people (104 unemployed)
9. Jackson County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 771 people (26 unemployed)
9. Walworth County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.4%
--- 1-month change: +0.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,355 people (81 unemployed)
8. Dewey County
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.5%
--- 1-month change: -0.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,143 people (74 unemployed)
6. Deuel County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.6%
--- 1-month change: +0.7 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.2 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,466 people (88 unemployed)
6. Jones County (tie)
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.6%
--- 1-month change: +1.5 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.6 percentage points
- Total labor force: 361 people (13 unemployed)
5. Roberts County
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 3.8%
--- 1-month change: +0.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +0.5 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,836 people (185 unemployed)
4. Buffalo County
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.1%
--- 1-month change: -0.2 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.0 percentage points
- Total labor force: 629 people (26 unemployed)
3. Grant County
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.5%
--- 1-month change: +1.4 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +1.4 percentage points
- Total labor force: 4,155 people (188 unemployed)
2. Oglala Lakota County
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.6%
--- 1-month change: -1.3 percentage points
--- 1-year change: -0.3 percentage points
- Total labor force: 3,763 people (172 unemployed)
1. Todd County
- January unemployment rate (preliminary): 4.7%
--- 1-month change: +1.1 percentage points
--- 1-year change: +2.1 percentage points
- Total labor force: 2,258 people (107 unemployed)
This story features data reporting by Karim Noorani, writing by Ben Popken, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 50 states.
