State crime profile · 2024
South Dakota Crime Rates: Safest & Most Dangerous Cities
Crime data for 39 cities and 42 of 66 counties in South Dakota (SD), ranked safest to most dangerous from 141 reporting agencies.
Data updated 2026-09-05
- 320
- Violent / 100K
- 1,535.5
- Property / 100K
- 39
- Cities
- 42
- Counties
South Dakota violent crime is 320 per 100,000, 9% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, South Dakota records 320 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, 9% below the national average (about the 26th-safest of 51 states and D.C.). Statewide averages hide city and county variation; UCR participation is voluntary.
- 320 violent crimes per 100K
- -9% vs. the U.S. average
- 1,111 Sioux Falls violent-crime reports, volume #1 of 3
- 718.9/100K Rapid City rate #1 (volume #2)
How safe is South Dakota? FBI UCR data snapshot
South Dakota (SD) reported 2,959 violent crimes and 14,198 property crimes in 2024, based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program submissions from 141 law enforcement agencies. That translates to a statewide violent crime rate of 320 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1535.5 per 100,000 against a reporting population of 924,669. The PlainCrime dataset indexes 39 South Dakota cities and 42 counties, each with their own detail pages and local crime figures drawn from FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10.
The FBI's state-level summary reports violent and property crime as aggregate totals rather than broken out by individual offense type (murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson). For an offense-by-offense breakdown, see the individual city and county pages for South Dakota below, which draw on FBI UCR Tables 8 and 10 and do report each offense type separately.
Across 11 years of state-level UCR history (2014–2024), the violent crime rate moved from 316.3 to 320 per 100,000, a rise of 1.2%. City-level detail pages within South Dakota include safety grades (A+ to F), benchmarks against national averages, per-capita risk estimates, and multi-year trend tables for users comparing specific jurisdictions. All figures above are drawn from FBI UCR 2024 submissions; reporting completeness varies by agency, and the FBI periodically restates prior-year figures as late submissions arrive.
How South Dakota ranks nationally
South Dakota vs. every U.S. state
Violent crime per 100,000 residents, FBI UCR 2024. Lower is safer.
320 49th percentile among 51 U.S. states
Each bar is a band of values; taller bars hold more U.S. states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · 2024
Safest cities · Most dangerous cities · Crime trends
Crime Trends
| Year | Population | Violent Crime | Rate | Property Crime | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 924,669 | 2,959 | 320 | 14,198 | 1535.5 |
| 2023 | 919,318 | 3,069 | 333.8 | 14,265 | 1551.7 |
| 2022 | 909,824 | 3,272 | 359.6 | 15,131 | 1663.1 |
| 2021 | 895,376 | 3,300 | 368.6 | 14,350 | 1602.7 |
| 2020 | 892,717 | 4,146 | 464.4 | 16,262 | 1821.6 |
| 2019 | 884,659 | 3,021 | 341.5 | 15,105 | 1707.4 |
| 2018 | 882,235 | 3,070 | 348 | 14,595 | 1654.3 |
| 2017 | 869,666 | 3,499 | 402.3 | 15,597 | 1793.4 |
| 2016 | 865,454 | 3,491 | 403.4 | 16,729 | 1933 |
| 2015 | 858,469 | 3,288 | 383 | 16,046 | 1869.1 |
| 2014 | 853,175 | 2,699 | 316.3 | 15,591 | 1827.4 |
Cities in South Dakota
Safest cities in South Dakota
Cities with 25,000+ residents, lowest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Aberdeen 268
Aberdeen
268 /100K
- Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls
527 /100K
- Rapid City
Rapid City
719 /100K
What this shows Aberdeen is the safest sizeable city in South Dakota, at 267.8 violent crimes per 100,000.
Highest violent-crime cities in South Dakota
Cities with 25,000+ residents, highest violent crime per 100,000, FBI UCR 2024. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Rapid City
Rapid City
719 /100K
- Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls
527 /100K
- Aberdeen 268
Aberdeen
268 /100K
What this shows Rapid City reports the highest big-city violent-crime rate in South Dakota, at 718.9 per 100,000.
Sioux Falls recorded 1,111 violent-crime reports (#1 of 3) at 526.7 per 100,000 (rate #2). Rapid City recorded 582 (#2) at 718.9 per 100,000 (#1). These are FBI UCR 2024 agency submissions, not a personal risk forecast.
Volume #1 is not rate #1 among South Dakota cities
Violent-crime rate per 100,000 for the count leader and the rate leader among cities with 25,000+ residents, FBI UCR 2024. Each tooltip identifies the relevant rate or volume rank; chart row is not a state rank.
- Rapid City
Rapid City
719 /100K
- Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls
527 /100K
What this shows Sioux Falls recorded 1,111 violent-crime reports (#1 of 3) at 526.7 per 100,000 (rate #2). Rapid City recorded 582 (#2) at 718.9 per 100,000 (#1). These are FBI UCR 2024 agency submissions, not a personal risk forecast.
South Dakota safety livability score: 55/100
Percentile-benchmarked against all 51 tracked states, 2024 FBI UCR data.
-
Violent crime rate
320/100K · D (49th percentile)
-
Property crime rate
1535.5/100K · C (63th percentile)
-
Murder rate
N/A, dropped from score, weight redistributed
| City | Population | Violent / 100K | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sioux Falls | 210,926 | 526.7 | F |
| Rapid City | 80,957 | 718.9 | F |
| Aberdeen | 28,004 | 267.8 | B |
| Brookings | 24,638 | 85.2 | A |
| Watertown | 23,417 | 303.2 | B |
| Yankton | 15,698 | 273.9 | C |
| Mitchell | 15,607 | 262.7 | C |
| Huron | 14,740 | 291.7 | C |
| Box Elder | 14,589 | 349.6 | C |
| Pierre | 13,822 | 506.4 | D |
| Spearfish | 13,657 | 263.6 | C |
| Vermillion | 12,110 | 181.7 | B |
| Brandon | 10,935 | 73.2 | A |
| Tea | 8,055 | 136.6 | A |
| Sturgis | 7,056 | 226.8 | B |
| Madison | 6,069 | 148.3 | A |
| Belle Fourche | 5,955 | 151.1 | B |
| Hot Springs | 3,686 | 189.9 | A |
| Mobridge | 3,217 | 279.8 | B |
| Lead | 3,054 | 163.7 | A |
| North Sioux City | 3,049 | 196.8 | B |
| Summerset | 3,008 | 66.5 | A |
| Winner | 2,914 | 137.3 | A |
| Lennox | 2,518 | 79.4 | A+ |
| Chamberlain | 2,497 | 440.5 | C |
| Sisseton | 2,401 | 208.2 | B |
| Flandreau | 2,353 | 170 | B |
| Beresford | 2,079 | 192.4 | B |
| Elk Point | 2,054 | 48.7 | A+ |
| Parkston | 1,539 | 65 | A+ |
| Deadwood | 1,413 | 990.8 | F |
| Wagner | 1,407 | 639.7 | F |
| Miller | 1,319 | 0 | A+ |
| Clark | 1,162 | 344.2 | B |
| Centerville | 968 | 516.5 | C |
| Whitewood | 962 | 207.9 | A |
| Scotland | 785 | 127.4 | A |
| Burke | 577 | 173.3 | A |
| Jefferson | 440 | 0 | A+ |
Counties in South Dakota
42 of 66 Census county-equivalents (63.6%) appear in FBI Table 10 for this vintage. Missing counties are absent from the FBI source for this year, not dropped by PlainCrime. See national county coverage and methodology.
Largest counties in South Dakota, violent crime per 100K
Top 8 counties by population, violent crime per 100,000 residents. Hover a bar for the exact rate.
- Minnehaha 19
Minnehaha
19 /100K
- Pennington
Pennington
130 /100K
- Lincoln 32
Lincoln
32 /100K
- Brown 34
Brown
34 /100K
- Brookings 18
Brookings
18 /100K
- Meade
Meade
60 /100K
- Codington 25
Codington
25 /100K
- Lawrence 39
Lawrence
39 /100K
Nationwide peers for South Dakota
Similar violent rate (~320/100K)
- Washington · 329.3/100K violent
- Massachusetts · 308.8/100K violent
- Indiana · 308.5/100K violent
- Oregon · 334.6/100K violent
Similar property rate (~1,535.5/100K)
- Ohio · 1545.4/100K property
- Georgia · 1567.1/100K property
- Virginia · 1590.1/100K property
- Pennsylvania · 1457.1/100K property
Nearby States
Safest cities · Most dangerous · Trends · National rankings · Crime grades · Compare · Methodology
Primary source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States annual release. State-level trends cross-check against the FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) API.
Population figures for rate calculations reference U.S. Census Bureau estimates where FBI-reported populations are unavailable. Verify with Census.gov QuickFacts.
Read our methodology , how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Put this to use
Put the South Dakota FBI UCR state file to work: open a city, a county, or a national ranking built from the same vintage.
A statewide average hides city and county variation: open a local profile before treating the state figure as a place-level verdict.
Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.