The graph below ranks each South Dakota County by total residents according to the 2006 census estimates.
South Dakota total population by county
| County | Total Population |
| Minnehaha |  163,281 |
| Pennington | 94,338 |
| Lincoln | 35,239 |
| Brown | 34,645 |
| Brookings | 28,195 |
| Codington | 26,347 |
| Meade | 24,425 |
| Lawrence | 22,685 |
| Yankton | 21,779 |
| Davison | 19,035 |
| Hughes | 16,946 |
| Beadle | 15,643 |
| Shannon | 13,824 |
| Union | 13,745 |
| Clay | 12,867 |
| Lake | 11,170 |
| Todd | 10,088 |
| Roberts | 10,024 |
| Butte | 9,374 |
| Charles Mix | 9,224 |
| Turner | 8,540 |
| Custer | 7,944 |
| Hutchinson | 7,426 |
| Fall River | 7,304 |
| Bon Homme | 7,281 |
| Grant | 7,278 |
| Spink | 6,923 |
| Moody | 6,644 |
| Dewey | 6,112 |
| Tripp | 6,066 |
| McCook | 5,851 |
| Day | 5,778 |
| Hamlin | 5,616 |
| Kingsbury | 5,464 |
| Walworth | 5,425 |
| Brule | 5,167 |
| Marshall | 4,430 |
| Deuel | 4,301 |
| Corson | 4,288 |
| Gregory | 4,268 |
| Edmunds | 4,062 |
| Lyman | 3,929 |
| Hanson | 3,690 |
| Clark | 3,683 |
| Bennett | 3,543 |
| Hand | 3,323 |
| Douglas | 3,168 |
| Perkins | 3,025 |
| Aurora | 2,905 |
| Jackson | 2,900 |
| Stanley | 2,815 |
| Ziebach | 2,706 |
| McPherson | 2,565 |
| Miner | 2,553 |
| Sanborn | 2,517 |
| Faulk | 2,339 |
| Potter | 2,321 |
| Buffalo | 2,109 |
| Mellette | 2,099 |
| Jerauld | 2,071 |
| Haakon | 1,864 |
| Hyde | 1,551 |
| Campbell | 1,494 |
| Sully | 1,435 |
| Harding | 1,205 |
| Jones | 1,067 |