The 10 Most Liberal Cities In South Dakota For 2024


The most liberal cities in South Dakota are Vermillion and Sioux Falls for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

In this article, we will explore some of the most liberal cities in South Dakota, where progressive ideas and inclusive attitudes flourish.

If you’re looking to move to South Dakota and want to know where the majority of South Dakotans lean left, you’ve come to the right place.

Specifically, we wanted to know which cities have the highest number of liberal voters in the Mount Rushmore State.

To do so, we analyzed how the people in each city in South Dakota with a population greater than 5,000 voted during the last presidential election. The cities with the highest percentage of voters who voted Democrat were named the most liberal cities in the state.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Most Liberal Places In South Dakota For 2024:

  1. Vermillion
  2. Sioux Falls
  3. Brandon
  4. Brookings
  5. Aberdeen
  6. Harrisburg
  7. Tea
  8. Yankton
  9. Rapid City
  10. Box Elder

Most Liberal Cities In South Dakota Map

If you’re wondering, Belle Fourche is the most conservative city in South Dakota of all those we measured.

And to be clear, we didn’t form this list based on our biases — we relied on the cold hard data. For more on how we ran the numbers, keep on reading. Then, we’ll take a closer look at each of our top 10 most liberal cities in South Dakota.

And if you already knew these places were liberal, check out some more reading about South Dakota and the most liberal places in the country:

The 10 Most Liberal Places In South Dakota For 2024

Vermillion, SD

Source: Wikipedia User User:Magicpiano | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10
Percent Democrat: 54.1%
More on Vermillion: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Sioux Falls, SD

Source: Wikipedia User Jonathunder |
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10
Percent Democrat: 43.8%
More on Sioux Falls: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Brandon, SD

Source: Wikipedia User TCN7JM | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10
Percent Democrat: 43.8%
More on Brandon: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Brookings, SD

Source: Wikipedia User Jon Platek | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10
Percent Democrat: 41.9%
More on Brookings: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Aberdeen, SD

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10
Percent Democrat: 37.3%
More on Aberdeen: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10
Percent Democrat: 37.0%
More on Harrisburg: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10
Percent Democrat: 37.0%
More on Tea: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Yankton, SD

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10
Percent Democrat: 36.8%
More on Yankton: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Rapid City, SD

Source: Wikipedia User tochichi | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10
Percent Democrat: 35.8%
More on Rapid City: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Box Elder, SD

Source: Wikipedia User Jeffrey Beall | CC BY 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10
Percent Democrat: 35.8%
More on Box Elder: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

How we determined the most liberal cities in South Dakota for 2024

To find the most liberal places in South Dakota, we used Saturday Night Science – the argument you’d make at a bar – to find the cities with the most liberals.

Straight forward.

We started by making a list of every city in South Dakota over 5,000 people based on the 2018-2022 American Community Survey. That left us with 18 cities and towns.

We then measured the voting record and MIT election data to determine which places lean the most leftward in their allegiances by:

  1. Percentage Of Votes For Democratic President In 2020

Because no voting data exists at the city level, we used county-level election results from the 2020 election. We assigned every city in a county the percentage of votes that went to the Democrats, effectively extending the county’s results to the city level. In cases where larger cities encompassed an entire county, the election outcomes accurately reflected the city’s political landscape.

The winner, Vermillion, is “The Most liberal City in South Dakota For 2024”. The most conservative place in South Dakota was Belle Fourche.

We updated this article for 2024. This report is our tenth time ranking the most liberal places to live in South Dakota.

Summing Up The Liberal Snowflakes in South Dakota

Well, there you have it, the places in South Dakota that have the highest number of liberals per capita, with Vermillion ranking as the least conservative in the entire state.

The most liberal cities in South Dakota are Vermillion, Sioux Falls, Brandon, Brookings, Aberdeen, Harrisburg, Tea, Yankton, Rapid City, and Box Elder.

If you’re curious, here are the least liberal cities in South Dakota:

  1. Belle Fourche
  2. Sturgis
  3. Watertown

For more South Dakota reading, check out:

Most Liberal Places In South Dakota

Rank City Population % Liberal
1 Vermillion, SD 11,667 54.1%
2 Sioux Falls, SD 193,401 43.8%
3 Brandon, SD 10,919 43.8%
4 Brookings, SD 23,530 41.9%
5 Aberdeen, SD 28,388 37.3%
6 Harrisburg, SD 7,157 37.0%
7 Tea, SD 5,922 37.0%
8 Yankton, SD 15,421 36.8%
9 Rapid City, SD 75,632 35.8%
10 Box Elder, SD 11,905 35.8%
11 Madison, SD 6,271 35.2%
12 Pierre, SD 14,105 33.9%
13 Spearfish, SD 12,268 32.8%
14 Mitchell, SD 15,656 31.3%
15 Huron, SD 14,179 29.8%
16 Watertown, SD 22,718 29.2%
17 Sturgis, SD 7,121 24.0%
18 Belle Fourche, SD 5,670 19.6%
About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.