The 10 Most Boring Places In South Dakota For 2023


The most boring places in South Dakota are Hartford and Canton for 2023 based on Saturday Night Science.

There’s no denying it: there are plenty of places in South Dakota that are downright beautiful and full of excitement.

Unfortunately, not all towns and cities in Mount Rushmore State are so lucky.

Just like in all U.S. States, there are definitely some boring places within South Dakota’s’ borders. You know the places where everyone has an AARP card and the most exciting thing they do all day is post a picture of their grandchild on Facebook.

Like Hartford, for instance. In our latest analysis, we found that this city was the most boring city in all of Oklahoma according to Saturday Night Science. But don’t feel bad if you’re a resident of Hartford. There are plenty of other boring, lackluster places in South Dakota as well.

Here they are. Try not to jump out of your seat with excitement.

The 10 Most Boring Places In South Dakota

  1. Hartford
  2. Canton
  3. Chamberlain
  4. Winner
  5. Fort Pierre
  6. Milbank
  7. Pierre
  8. Custer
  9. Beresford
  10. Dell Rapids

Don’t freak out, in fact, believe it not, a boring city is actually one a lot of people would like to call home.

Before you get all upset if your city’s name is on the list, rest assured that we didn’t use personal opinion when it comes to what classifies a city or town as “boring” or “exciting”. We crunched actual numbers to figure out which towns are statistically more boring.

Showing this data to you is the kind of thing that a real estate agent knows, but would never share.

For more South Dakota reading, check out:


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


The 10 Most Boring Places In South Dakota For 2023

Hartford, SD

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

6
/10
Population: 3,340
Average Age: 38.6
% Married: 36.0%
More on Hartford: Data | Real Estate

Canton, SD

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

5
/10
Population: 3,060
Average Age: 43.6
% Married: 30.0%
More on Canton: Data | Crime | Real Estate

3. Chamberlain

Chamberlain, SD

Source: Wikipedia User Anne Swoboda from Griffith, IN, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10
Population: 2,538
Average Age: 40.6
% Married: 30.0%
More on Chamberlain: Crime | Real Estate

4. Winner

Winner, SD

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10
Population: 2,905
Average Age: 43.7
% Married: 34.0%
More on Winner: Crime | Real Estate

5. Fort Pierre

Fort Pierre, SD

Source: Wikipedia User Jeffrey Beall | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10
Population: 2,522
Average Age: 42.4
% Married: 33.0%
More on Fort Pierre: Real Estate

Milbank, SD

Source: Wikipedia User Joel Bradshaw | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10
Population: 3,506
Average Age: 42.3
% Married: 32.0%
More on Milbank: Data | Real Estate

Pierre, SD

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

7
/10
Population: 14,105
Average Age: 39.6
% Married: 25.0%
More on Pierre: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

8. Custer

Custer, SD

Source: Wikipedia User puroticorico | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10
Population: 2,043
Average Age: 57.6
% Married: 23.0%
More on Custer: Real Estate

9. Beresford

Beresford, SD

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

8
/10
Population: 2,419
Average Age: 37.6
% Married: 35.0%
More on Beresford: Crime | Real Estate

Dell Rapids, SD

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

6
/10
Population: 3,953
Average Age: 38.7
% Married: 49.0%
More on Dell Rapids: Data | Real Estate

Methodology: How we determined the boring cities in the Mount Rushmore State

You would present the following case to your friends if you were argueing with them at a bar about the most boring place to live in South Dakota. And that’s why we call it Saturday Night Science.

Because our data speaks more truth than feelings.

To figure out how boring a place is, we factored in things we generally think make people exciting, and then we figure out which cities have the least number of those exciting people.

We used the U.S. American Community Census data to gather the information presented here. HSome of the things people tend to think of as making a city’s population boring include:

  • % of Population Over 25 (higher is more boring)
  • % of Married Household (higher is more boring)
  • Average Age (higher is more boring)
  • % of Households With Kids (higher is more boring)
  • Population density (lower is more boring)

Then, our algorithm generates a ranking for each place in these categories. After crunching the numbers, all of the cities ranked from most boring to most exciting.

For this ranking, we used every South Dakota city with at least 2,000 residents. This keeps us from prejudicing our rankings by including very small pockets of retired people.

Grab your rocker and hold on.

We updated this article for 2023, and it’s our tenth time ranking the most boring cities in South Dakota.

There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep

On a ranking like this, there are usually no winners, but since South Dakota isn’t necessarily the most boring state in the United States, the cities on this ranking can at least take solace that there are, in fact, more boring cities in the country.

If you’re also curious enough, here are the most exciting places in South Dakota, according to science:

  1. Vermillion
  2. Brookings
  3. Volga

For more South Dakota reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Most Boring Cities In South Dakota For 2023

Rank City Population Average Age % Married % Kids
1 Hartford, SD 3,340 38.6 36.0% 40.6%
2 Canton, SD 3,060 43.6 30.0% 29.8%
3 Chamberlain, SD 2,538 40.6 30.0% 30.8%
4 Winner, SD 2,905 43.7 34.0% 24.9%
5 Fort Pierre, SD 2,522 42.4 33.0% 23.1%
6 Milbank, SD 3,506 42.3 32.0% 26.0%
7 Pierre, SD 14,105 39.6 25.0% 32.2%
8 Custer, SD 2,043 57.6 23.0% 18.7%
9 Beresford, SD 2,419 37.6 35.0% 35.5%
10 Dell Rapids, SD 3,953 38.7 49.0% 33.8%
11 Watertown, SD 22,718 38.9 32.0% 25.6%
12 Lennox, SD 2,603 37.4 35.0% 35.1%
13 Hot Springs, SD 3,465 56.3 14.0% 12.8%
14 Redfield, SD 2,253 47.3 24.0% 22.8%
15 Belle Fourche, SD 5,670 36.0 24.0% 34.1%
16 Lead, SD 2,993 45.5 25.0% 13.6%
17 Brandon, SD 10,919 38.2 27.0% 38.4%
18 Mobridge, SD 3,130 42.4 30.0% 21.6%
19 Harrisburg, SD 7,157 30.8 36.0% 50.2%
20 Sturgis, SD 7,121 42.0 24.0% 24.5%
21 Parkston, SD 2,003 37.2 42.0% 29.1%
22 Mitchell, SD 15,656 39.3 28.0% 21.7%
23 Yankton, SD 15,421 39.9 25.0% 25.0%
24 Summerset, SD 2,950 33.4 23.0% 41.3%
25 Flandreau, SD 2,246 37.5 22.0% 32.5%
26 Spearfish, SD 12,268 38.4 20.0% 21.8%
27 Tea, SD 5,922 30.2 35.0% 59.5%
28 Huron, SD 14,179 34.8 23.0% 36.1%
29 Sisseton, SD 2,564 34.1 25.0% 37.0%
30 Box Elder, SD 11,905 28.6 12.0% 38.1%
31 Elk Point, SD 2,177 33.8 19.0% 40.3%
32 Madison, SD 6,271 37.5 25.0% 24.1%
33 Aberdeen, SD 28,388 35.6 29.0% 25.0%
34 Sioux Falls, SD 193,401 34.9 24.0% 31.5%
35 Springfield, SD 2,216 36.9 11.0% 14.0%
36 Volga, SD 2,043 27.9 29.0% 23.9%
37 Brookings, SD 23,530 24.5 15.0% 23.5%
38 Vermillion, SD 11,667 23.0 11.0% 23.9%
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

5 thoughts on “The 10 Most Boring Places In South Dakota For 2023

  1. This is the laziest form of citation I’ve ever seen. If you were in college, you would fail the class immediately. You can NOT cite Wikipedia as you are doing. Wikipedia is a website that provides the citations for you at the bottom of the page. Those are the citation’s you need, not “Wikipedia.”

  2. Thank you for doing all the research that tells the rest of us the best places to live in SD to avoid excitement-seeking obnoxious drunken stoned young adults who don’t want to get married or have kids because kids would inconvenience them and their ‘selfie’ all-about-me arrogant big-headed lifestyles.

  3. Custer is boring big time. Didn’t have plans to live here very long. This town is way to small. Looking forward to moving on to different state and climate. And definitely more than 2000 in population.

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