Day County, South Dakota

Day County
Day County
County
	First National Bank (Webster, South Dakota)
	Location within the U.S. state of South Dakota
	South Dakota's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 45°22′N 97°37′W / 45.37°N 97.61°W
Country	United States
State	South Dakota
Founded	1880
Named for	Merritt H. Day
Seat	Webster
Largest city	Webster
Area
• Total	1,091 sq mi (2,830 km2)
• Land	1,028 sq mi (2,660 km2)
• Water	63 sq mi (160 km2) 5.8%
Population (2020)
• Total	5,449
• Estimate (2023)	5,451
• Density	5.0/sq mi (1.9/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	At-large
Website	day.sdcounties.org

Day County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,449.^[1] Its county seat is Webster.^[2] The county is named for Merritt H. Day, pioneer and 1879 Dakota Territory legislator.^[3]^[4]

Geography

The terrain of Day County consists of rolling hills, partly devoted to agriculture. It is dotted with numerous lakes and ponds, especially its eastern portion.^[5] The terrain slopes to the west; its highest point is the northeast corner, at 2,014 ft (614 m) ASL.^[6] The county has a total area of 1,091 square miles (2,830 km²), of which 1,028 square miles (2,660 km²) is land and 63 square miles (160 km²) (5.8%) is water.^[7]

Lakes

Amsden
Antelope
Bitter
Blue Dog
Enemy Swim
Horseshoe
Lynn
Minnewaste
Pickerel Lake
Reetz
Rush
Sweetwater
Waubay

Major highways

Adjacent counties

Marshall County - north
Roberts County - east
Grant County - southeast
Codington County - southeast
Clark County - south
Spink County - southwest
Brown County - west

Protected areas

Buchner Slough State Public Shooting Area^[8]
Holmquist Slough State Public Shooting Area^[9]
Lily State Public Shooting Area^[10]
Myland Pass State Public Shooting Area^[11]
Nelson Slough State Public Shooting Area^[12]
Pickerel Lake State Recreation Area^[13]
Pierpont Lake Recreation Area^[14]
Waubay National Wildlife Refuge

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1880	97		—
1890	9,168		9,351.5%
1900	12,254		33.7%
1910	14,372		17.3%
1920	15,194		5.7%
1930	14,606		−3.9%
1940	13,565		−7.1%
1950	12,294		−9.4%
1960	10,516		−14.5%
1970	8,713		−17.1%
1980	8,133		−6.7%
1990	6,978		−14.2%
2000	6,267		−10.2%
2010	5,710		−8.9%
2020	5,449		−4.6%
2023 (est.)	5,451	^[15]	0.0%
U.S. Decennial Census^[16] 1790-1960^[17] 1900-1990^[18] 1990-2000^[19] 2010-2020^[1]

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 5,449 people, 2,370 households, and 1,451 families residing in the county.^[20] The population density was 5.3 inhabitants per square mile (2.0/km²). There were 3,395 housing units.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 5,710 people, 2,504 households, and 1,561 families in the county. The population density was 5.6 inhabitants per square mile (2.2/km²). There were 3,630 housing units at an average density of 3.5 units per square mile (1.4 units/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 88.1% white, 9.5% American Indian, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% black or African American, 0.4% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.1% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 43.8% were German, 25.1% were Norwegian, 12.8% were Polish, 8.8% were Irish, and 6.1% were American.

Of the 2,504 households, 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.7% were non-families, and 34.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.83. The median age was 47.9 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $36,818 and the median income for a family was $47,949. Males had a median income of $36,549 versus $25,750 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,542. About 10.7% of families and 12.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.7% of those under age 18 and 14.1% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

Bristol
Waubay
Webster (county seat)

Towns

Census-designated place

Enemy Swim

Unincorporated communities

Townships

Andover
Bristol
Butler
Central Point
Egeland
Farmington
Grenville
Highland
Homer
Independence
Kidder
Kosciusko
Liberty
Lynn
Morton
Nutley
Oak Gulch
Racine
Raritan
Rusk
Scotland
Troy
Union
Valley
Waubay
Webster
Wheatland
York

Politics

Day County voters have tended to vote Democratic for the past several decades. Since 1948 the county has selected the Democratic Party candidate in 71% of national elections. However, the county swung hard to Donald Trump in 2016, and in 2020 Trump posted the best percentage in the county by a Republican presidential candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1904.

United States presidential election results for Day County, South Dakota^[22]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	1,869	63.06%	1,052	35.49%	43	1.45%
2016	1,627	59.23%	974	35.46%	146	5.31%
2012	1,320	45.95%	1,497	52.11%	56	1.95%
2008	1,372	42.81%	1,785	55.69%	48	1.50%
2004	1,671	47.20%	1,817	51.33%	52	1.47%
2000	1,623	50.77%	1,492	46.67%	82	2.56%
1996	1,282	36.29%	1,840	52.08%	411	11.63%
1992	1,161	31.17%	1,578	42.36%	986	26.47%
1988	1,616	42.82%	2,137	56.62%	21	0.56%
1984	2,150	52.43%	1,932	47.11%	19	0.46%
1980	2,507	55.18%	1,720	37.86%	316	6.96%
1976	1,617	37.98%	2,610	61.31%	30	0.70%
1972	1,971	41.95%	2,719	57.86%	9	0.19%
1968	2,062	43.81%	2,463	52.33%	182	3.87%
1964	1,914	37.17%	3,235	62.83%	0	0.00%
1960	2,626	48.09%	2,835	51.91%	0	0.00%
1956	2,652	47.16%	2,971	52.84%	0	0.00%
1952	3,648	60.81%	2,351	39.19%	0	0.00%
1948	2,438	42.91%	3,146	55.38%	97	1.71%
1944	2,593	51.04%	2,487	48.96%	0	0.00%
1940	3,277	49.85%	3,297	50.15%	0	0.00%
1936	2,113	36.88%	3,335	58.21%	281	4.90%
1932	1,983	32.03%	3,910	63.16%	298	4.81%
1928	3,180	54.22%	2,642	45.05%	43	0.73%
1924	2,193	55.17%	308	7.75%	1,474	37.08%
1920	2,739	59.82%	436	9.52%	1,404	30.66%
1916	1,758	61.21%	907	31.58%	207	7.21%
1912	0	0.00%	787	33.76%	1,544	66.24%
1908	1,616	59.22%	813	29.79%	300	10.99%
1904	2,077	73.50%	383	13.55%	366	12.95%
1900	1,558	56.37%	1,092	39.51%	114	4.12%
1896	1,171	48.07%	1,230	50.49%	35	1.44%
1892	752	38.92%	362	18.74%	818	42.34%