Counties in South Dakota by share of adults with a bachelor's degree
Brookings County had the highest share of adults with a bachelor's degree of 66 counties in 2022, at 42.4%. Buffalo County had the lowest, at 6.8%. The median was 23.2% and the figure for South Dakota was 30.4%. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.
Top 40 counties, 2022
Full ranking
| Rank | Counties | 2022 (%) | Change on 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brookings County | 42.4 | -0.5 pts |
| 2 | Lincoln County | 41.8 | +0.5 pts |
| 3 | Clay County | 40 | -5.9 pts |
| 4 | Lawrence County | 36.7 | +2.2 pts |
| 5 | Hughes County | 35.4 | +0.9 pts |
| 5 | Union County | 35.4 | +1 pts |
| 7 | Lake County | 34.6 | +1.5 pts |
| 8 | Minnehaha County | 34.2 | +0.7 pts |
| 9 | Jones County | 33.9 | -4.7 pts |
| 10 | Pennington County | 33.4 | +0.1 pts |
| 11 | Brown County | 32.8 | +0.4 pts |
| 12 | Custer County | 30.5 | +3.8 pts |
| 13 | Campbell County | 28.4 | +1.2 pts |
| 14 | Edmunds County | 28.2 | +3.5 pts |
| 15 | McCook County | 27.7 | +2 pts |
| 16 | Walworth County | 27.7 | +2.5 pts |
| 17 | Meade County | 27.4 | -0.5 pts |
| 18 | Harding County | 27.4 | +4.3 pts |
| 19 | Yankton County | 27.3 | +0.8 pts |
| 20 | Moody County | 27 | +0.3 pts |
| 21 | Stanley County | 26.9 | -2.2 pts |
| 22 | Turner County | 26.5 | +0.5 pts |
| 23 | Hutchinson County | 25.8 | +0.4 pts |
| 24 | Brule County | 25.7 | +1.2 pts |
| 25 | Beadle County | 25.5 | +1.6 pts |
| 26 | Hand County | 25.3 | +0.3 pts |
| 27 | Spink County | 25.1 | -1.4 pts |
| 28 | Charles Mix County | 24.7 | +2.3 pts |
| 29 | Grant County | 24.4 | -0.2 pts |
| 30 | Potter County | 24.3 | -0.1 pts |
| 31 | Deuel County | 23.7 | +0.4 pts |
| 32 | Marshall County | 23.3 | -4.7 pts |
| 33 | Davison County | 23.3 | +0.5 pts |
| 34 | Lyman County | 23.2 | -2.6 pts |
| 35 | Kingsbury County | 23 | -1.1 pts |
| 36 | Day County | 22.4 | +1.2 pts |
| 37 | Faulk County | 22.2 | -3.2 pts |
| 38 | Hamlin County | 21.9 | +0.7 pts |
| 39 | Sully County | 21.5 | +0.8 pts |
| 40 | Hanson County | 21.1 | +2.9 pts |
| 41 | Douglas County | 20.6 | +0.8 pts |
| 42 | McPherson County | 20.5 | -1.1 pts |
| 43 | Hyde County | 20.3 | +3.6 pts |
| 44 | Perkins County | 20.2 | -0.6 pts |
| 45 | Codington County | 20.2 | -0.1 pts |
| 46 | Bon Homme County | 20.1 | -2.7 pts |
| 47 | Sanborn County | 19.9 | +2.7 pts |
| 48 | Fall River County | 19.9 | -2.2 pts |
| 49 | Gregory County | 19.2 | +0.1 pts |
| 50 | Clark County | 18.7 | -0.5 pts |
| 51 | Bennett County | 18.4 | -1.8 pts |
| 52 | Aurora County | 18.2 | -0.1 pts |
| 53 | Butte County | 18.2 | -2.1 pts |
| 54 | Dewey County | 17.9 | +0.8 pts |
| 55 | Corson County | 17.2 | +1.7 pts |
| 56 | Tripp County | 17.1 | -2.1 pts |
| 57 | Jerauld County | 16.8 | -2.6 pts |
| 58 | Haakon County | 16.6 | +0.6 pts |
| 59 | Roberts County | 16.5 | +0.4 pts |
| 60 | Miner County | 16.5 | -0.8 pts |
| 61 | Jackson County | 15.6 | +1.4 pts |
| 62 | Ziebach County | 14.9 | +0.3 pts |
| 63 | Todd County | 14.7 | +1.4 pts |
| 64 | Mellette County | 11.9 | -2.7 pts |
| 65 | Oglala Lakota County | 8.2 | -2.2 pts |
| 66 | Buffalo County | 6.8 | -0.1 pts |
Other periods
About this ranking
People aged 25 and over whose highest degree is a bachelor's, master's, professional school or doctorate degree, as a percentage of all people aged 25 and over. United States: American Community Survey five-year estimate, where the period shown is the last year of the five-year span.
Excludes associate degrees and college without a degree. Not comparable with EU tertiary attainment, which includes short-cycle tertiary education and usually covers ages 25 to 64. Calculated from counts in ACS table B15003, which are stored as inputs.
Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.
How to cite
U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B15003: population 25 years and over with a bachelor's degree or higher as a percentage of the population 25 years and over, calculated with stored inputs. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/summary_file/2022/table-based-SF/data/5YRData/acsdt5y2022-b15003.dat. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
Use this data in your AI agent
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Rank Counties in South Dakota by share of adults with a bachelor's degree using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"bachelors_degree_share","level":"province","within":"South Dakota","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=bachelors_degree_share&level=province&within=South%20Dakota&limit=10
Questions
Which county has the highest share of adults with a bachelor's degree?
Brookings County, with 42.4% in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Which county has the lowest share of adults with a bachelor's degree?
Buffalo County, with 6.8% in 2022.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B15003: population 25 years and over with a bachelor's degree or higher as a percentage of the population 25 years and over, calculated with stored inputs. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
Bachelor's degree or higher, population 25 and over: other rankings
- US states
- US counties
- Counties in Texas
- Counties in Georgia
- Counties in Virginia
- Counties in Kentucky
- Counties in Missouri
- Counties in Kansas
- Counties in Illinois
- Counties in North Carolina
- Counties in Iowa
- Counties in Tennessee
Counties in South Dakota: more rankings
- Asian population share
- Live births, July to June
- Black or African American population share
- Crude birth rate, July to June
- Crude death rate, July to June
- Deaths, July to June
- Foreign-born population share
- Real GDP growth
- GDP per capita, US dollars
- Gross domestic product (GDP), US dollars
- Hispanic or Latino population share
- Homeownership rate (US, housing units)
- Median age
- Median gross rent (monthly)
- Median home value
- Median household income