Meade County is a county in South Dakota, United States, anchored by Sturgis on the eastern edge of the northern Black Hills. It had a population of 29,852 at the 2020 census and covers 3,483 square miles (9,020 km2), the largest county by area in South Dakota, centred near 44°34′N 102°43′W.<\/p>\n
Sturgis is the county seat; its postal code is 57785. The county has four incorporated cities and towns, three census-designated places, and more than a dozen unincorporated communities. Meade County observes Mountain Time.<\/p>\n
Meade County’s places range from Sturgis, its only city over 5,000 people, to scattered ranching hamlets on the plains east of the Black Hills. Sturgis, Faith, Piedmont and Summerset are incorporated; Blackhawk, Blucksberg Mountain and Wonderland Homes are census-designated places (CDPs) with no city government; everything else below is an unincorporated community.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sturgis<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | 7,020<\/td>\n | 57785<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Faith<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 57626<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Piedmont<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 57769<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Summerset<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Blackhawk<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 57718<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Blucksberg Mountain<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Wonderland Homes<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bear Butte<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bend<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Boneita Springs<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Buffalo Chip<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cedar Canyon<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Clough<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dalzell<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Elm Springs<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Enning<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 57737<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Fairpoint<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Fort Meade<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 57741<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Fox Ridge<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Haydraw<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Hereford<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Howes<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 57748<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Marcus<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Maurine<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mud Butte<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 57758<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Opal<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Plainview<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Redowl<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Stoneville<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Sulphur<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Tilford<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Union Center<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 57787<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Viewfield<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Volunteer<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| White Owl<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 57792<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Box Elder, a city that grew up around Ellsworth Air Force Base, sits mostly in neighboring Pennington County with only a small share of its footprint in Meade County; it is not counted in the table above. Fort Meade, the former Army post the county is named for, is a separate unincorporated place from the city of Sturgis that grew beside it.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nSmaller unincorporated places such as Bear Butte, Stoneville, Opal and Fairpoint use the ZIP code of their nearest post office town rather than one of their own; Summerset and Blucksberg Mountain, both close to Sturgis, generally use the 57785 Sturgis ZIP.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nMeade County is the largest county in South Dakota by land area, stretching from the northern edge of the Black Hills across a wide belt of semi-arid rolling plains. Mountain ridges rise in the west and southwest, where Flagstaff Mountain reaches 5,421 feet (1,652 m) near the southwest corner; the rest of the county slopes gently east and northeast toward open ranchland. The Cheyenne River runs along the southeast edge of the county, the Belle Fourche River crosses the north, and Cherry Creek drains the upper part of the county. Bear Butte, a laccolithic mountain sacred to several Northern Plains tribes, rises alone on the plains northeast of Sturgis and is protected as Bear Butte State Park.<\/p>\n Meade County borders Perkins County<\/a> to the north, Ziebach County<\/a> to the east, Haakon County<\/a> to the southeast, Pennington County<\/a> to the south, Lawrence County<\/a> to the southwest, and Butte County<\/a> to the northwest.<\/p>\n Meade County had 29,852 residents at the 2020 census, ranking sixth among South Dakota’s 66 counties. Sturgis and the Blackhawk CDP are the county’s two largest communities; Blackhawk, Summerset and Piedmont have grown fastest in recent decades as commuter communities for nearby Rapid City. Household income in the fast-growing eastern part of the county, closer to the Rapid City job market, runs near the South Dakota median of $71,810, while the ranching country in the west and north of the county trends lower. Spread across 3,471 square miles of land, Meade County averages fewer than nine people per square mile, one of the lowest population densities of any large county in the state.<\/p>\n Cattle ranching and hay production dominate the local economy across most of the county’s land area, while the eastern communities near Sturgis and Box Elder are increasingly tied to Rapid City’s economy and to Ellsworth Air Force Base, which sits just across the Meade–Pennington county line. Sturgis itself is known worldwide for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, held every August since 1938, which draws several hundred thousand riders and is by far the county’s largest annual event and single biggest driver of tourism revenue.<\/p>\n Meade County was organized on February 7, 1889, the same year South Dakota became a state, and was named for Fort Meade, a U.S. Army post established in 1878 and itself named for Civil War General George Meade. Fort Meade was garrisoned in part by veterans of the 7th Cavalry Regiment in the years after the Battle of the Little Bighorn and later became a Veterans Affairs medical center. Bear Butte, within the county, has been a site of prayer and ceremony for the Cheyenne, Lakota and other Northern Plains nations for centuries before European settlement and remains an active religious site today.<\/p>\n Interstate 90 crosses the southern part of Meade County through Sturgis and Box Elder, and U.S. Routes 14, 14A and 212 along with South Dakota Highways 34, 73 and 79 serve the rest of the county.<\/p>\n Rapid City Regional Airport, in neighboring Pennington County, is the nearest commercial airport. Meade County has no Amtrak service; South Dakota has none statewide.<\/p>\n Where is Meade County, South Dakota?<\/strong> What is the population of Meade County?<\/strong> How big is Meade County?<\/strong> What is the county seat of Meade County?<\/strong> How many towns are in Meade County?<\/strong> |