Minnehaha County, South Dakota

Minnehaha County is a county in South Dakota, United States, on the state’s eastern border with
Minnesota and Iowa, anchored by Sioux Falls. It had a population of 197,214 at the 2020 census, an
estimated 212,691 by 2025, and covers 806.85 square miles of land (2,089.72 km2) centred near
43°40′N 96°48′W.

Sioux Falls is the county seat and by far the largest city; its postal code is 57104. The county
holds 8 cities, 2 incorporated towns and 15 smaller communities, and it runs on Central Time. Its
FIPS code is 46099.

Towns & Villages in Minnehaha County

Minnehaha County has 25 named places on record: 8 cities, 2 incorporated towns, 6 census-designated
places and 9 unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. CDP stands for
census designated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads and platted subdivisions with no formal
boundary.

Sherman and Garretson share ZIP 57030 — Sherman has no post office of its own and is served
from Garretson, three miles south. Renner and Renner Corner are two separate named places a few
miles apart on Highway 115; Renner is the older rail-era community with a National Register
church, while Renner Corner is the newer subdivision at the Highway 115/38 junction, and the two
are often conflated in older listings. Census figures for Renner itself are not broken out
separately from the surrounding township, so its population is not shown here.

ZIP Codes

• 57104 — Sioux Falls (central, and the city’s primary ZIP)
• 57101, 57103, 57105–57110, 57117–57118, 57186, 57188–57189, 57192–57193, 57197–57198 — the rest of Sioux Falls, split by quadrant and by PO box ranges
• 57005 — Brandon
• 57022 — Dell Rapids
• 57033 — Hartford
• 57020 — Crooks
• 57003 — Baltic
• 57030 — Garretson (also serves Sherman)
• 57068 — Valley Springs
• 57018 — Colton
• 57035 — Humboldt
• 57041 — Lyons
• 57056 — Rowena
• 57055 — Renner and Renner Corner

Anderson, Meadow View Addition, Pine Lakes Addition, Corson, Ellis, Huntimer, Midway, Morefield,
Benclare, Andy’s Acres and Booge have no ZIP of their own; mail there is delivered under the
nearest incorporated city’s code.

Geography

Minnehaha County sits on South Dakota’s eastern edge, a landscape of rolling glacial till and
farmland dotted with small lakes. Of its 813.86 square miles, 806.85 are land and 7.01 are water,
about 0.9 percent. The Big Sioux River flows south-southeast through the east-central part of the
county, cutting the Sioux Falls quartzite outcrop that gave Sioux Falls its name and its downtown
falls park. Split Rock Creek, a Big Sioux tributary, runs through Garretson and the Palisades area
in the county’s northeast corner.

Moody County lies to the north, Lake and McCook counties to the west, Turner and Lincoln counties
to the south, and Minnesota and Iowa border the county directly to the east and southeast. Moody County and
McCook County both have live pages on this
site; Lake County and Turner County do not — the same-named posts on townsvillages.com
belong to Lake County, California and Turner County, Georgia.
Lincoln County, immediately
south, holds much of Sioux Falls’s fastest-growing suburbs.

Demographics

Minnehaha County had a population of 197,214 at the 2020 census, South Dakota’s most populous
county by a wide margin, and the latest estimate puts it near 203,289 residents. Sioux Falls and
Brandon are by far the two largest communities, together holding more than 90 percent of the
county’s population. Median household income runs $76,880, slightly above South Dakota’s
statewide figure of $71,810. Population density works out to roughly 252 people per square mile
of land, driven almost entirely by Sioux Falls’s urban core.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 19,174 people,
followed by retail trade at 13,956 and manufacturing at 12,283. Sanford Health and Avera Health,
both headquartered in Sioux Falls, run the two largest hospital systems and are the county’s
biggest employers. Smithfield Foods operates a large pork-processing plant in Sioux Falls, one of
the city’s oldest industrial employers, and the Sioux Falls School District is the largest
public employer. Dell Rapids and Brandon each function as commuter suburbs with their own small
manufacturing and retail bases. The county’s biggest annual event is the Sioux Empire Fair,
held each summer at the W. H. Lyon Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls since 1936, running roughly from late
July into early August with a rodeo, livestock shows and headline concerts.

History

The Dakota Territory legislature created Minnehaha County on 5 April 1862, and it organized a
county government in 1868. The name comes from the Sioux word Mnihaha, meaning “rapid
water” or “waterfall,” a reference to the falls of the Big Sioux River at Sioux
Falls — not, despite the common mix-up, a translation of “laughing water.” Sioux
Falls itself grew around a quartzite quarrying industry after the Civil War, and Sioux Quartzite
from local pits rebuilt downtown Dell Rapids in stone after an 1880s fire destroyed its original
wooden buildings.

Renner’s Nidaros Church, founded by Norwegian immigrants in 1868 and now on the National
Register of Historic Places, is reportedly the oldest ELCA congregation in South Dakota. On 27
August 1927, Charles Lindbergh drew a crowd estimated at thirty to forty thousand people to Renner
during his post-transatlantic-flight national tour.

Getting There

Interstates 29 and 90 cross through Sioux Falls, meeting near downtown, with Interstate 229
looping around the city’s east side. South Dakota Highways 11, 19, 38, 42 and 115 also run
through the county.

• Sioux Falls — the county seat itself, central to the county
• Brandon — about 5 miles east of Sioux Falls
• Dell Rapids — about 20 miles north of Sioux Falls
• Garretson — about 22 miles northeast of Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls Regional Airport, also known as Joe Foss Field, sits on the city’s northeast
side and is the county’s only commercial airport. South Dakota has no Amtrak service; the
nearest Amtrak station is in St. Cloud, Minnesota, about 220 miles northeast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Minnehaha County located?
It sits on South Dakota’s eastern border with Minnesota and Iowa, bordered by Moody, Lake,
McCook, Turner and Lincoln counties.

What is the population of Minnehaha County?
197,214 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 212,691 — South Dakota’s most
populous county.

How big is Minnehaha County?
813.86 square miles (2,107.89 km2) in total, of which 806.85 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Minnehaha County?
Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s largest city, is the county seat.

How many towns and cities are in Minnehaha County?
Eight cities — Sioux Falls, Brandon, Dell Rapids, Hartford, Crooks, Baltic, Garretson and
Valley Springs — plus the towns of Colton, Humboldt and Sherman, and a scatter of smaller
CDPs and unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Minnehaha County use?
Sioux Falls alone uses about 20 ZIP codes centred on 57104; the smaller cities each have their
own, from 57003 in Baltic to 57068 in Valley Springs.

What is Minnehaha County known for?
The Sioux Falls quartzite falls that gave the city and county their name, and the Sioux Empire
Fair, the state’s largest fair, held in Sioux Falls every summer.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in South Dakota.