The graph below ranks each South Dakota County by total residents according to the 2012 census estimates.
South Dakota total population by county
| County | Total Population |
| Minnehaha |  175,439 |
| Pennington | 104,363 |
| Lincoln | 48,286 |
| Brown | 37,360 |
| Brookings | 32,646 |
| Codington | 27,588 |
| Meade | 26,070 |
| Lawrence | 24,364 |
| Yankton | 22,603 |
| Davison | 19,787 |
| Beadle | 17,880 |
| Hughes | 17,465 |
| Union | 14,852 |
| Clay | 14,096 |
| Shannon | 14,034 |
| Lake | 11,819 |
| Roberts | 10,305 |
| Butte | 10,236 |
| Todd | 9,919 |
| Charles Mix | 9,215 |
| Custer | 8,348 |
| Turner | 8,318 |
| Grant | 7,281 |
| Hutchinson | 7,201 |
| Bon Homme | 7,052 |
| Fall River | 7,009 |
| Spink | 6,652 |
| Moody | 6,456 |
| Hamlin | 5,950 |
| Day | 5,630 |
| McCook | 5,606 |
| Dewey | 5,521 |
| Tripp | 5,481 |
| Walworth | 5,471 |
| Brule | 5,299 |
| Kingsbury | 5,209 |
| Marshall | 4,665 |
| Deuel | 4,386 |
| Gregory | 4,260 |
| Corson | 4,080 |
| Edmunds | 4,037 |
| Lyman | 3,799 |
| Clark | 3,584 |
| Bennett | 3,426 |
| Hanson | 3,399 |
| Hand | 3,382 |
| Jackson | 3,174 |
| Perkins | 3,030 |
| Douglas | 2,974 |
| Stanley | 2,969 |
| Ziebach | 2,867 |
| Aurora | 2,747 |
| McPherson | 2,435 |
| Faulk | 2,377 |
| Potter | 2,361 |
| Sanborn | 2,328 |
| Miner | 2,317 |
| Mellette | 2,090 |
| Jerauld | 2,043 |
| Buffalo | 2,020 |
| Haakon | 1,918 |
| Hyde | 1,434 |
| Sully | 1,423 |
| Campbell | 1,391 |
| Harding | 1,314 |
| Jones | 1,006 |