SD population: 814,180

South Dakota’s two largest counties each grew by more than 14 percent in the past decade, according to population figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Minnehaha County, which includes most of Sioux Falls, grew by 14.3 percent to 169,468 residents. Pennington County, home to Rapid City in the state’s Black Hills, grew by 14 percent to 100,948.

But the most significant growth was in Lincoln County, home to the south side of Sioux Falls, which grew by 85.8 percent to 44,828.

“As a state, we’d be losing population realistically if it wasn’t for Minnehaha and Lincoln County,” said Michael McCurry, an extension specialist at South Dakota State University specializing in demography. “That’s where all our migration comes into.”

Brown County’s population grew 3 percent to 36,531, while Brookings County’s 13.3-percent growth brings it up to 31,965 residents.

South Dakota’s final census count for 2010 was 814,180.

All of South Dakota’s five most populated cities added residents since the 2000 census.

Sioux Falls grew by 24.1 percent to 153,888, while Rapid City’s 14-percent growth gives it 67,956 residents. Aberdeen is up 5.8 percent to 26,091; Brookings gained 19.2 percent to 22,056 and Watertown rose 6.2 percent to 21,482.

McCurry said South Dakotans seem to think of the state in two halves — East River and West River, divided at the Missouri River — but the population split is much more east-centric. He said More than half of the state’s population is within an hour’s drive of Interstate 29, a north-south highway that runs along South Dakota’s eastern border.

The bureau released the new data Wednesday after sending the tables to Gov. Dennis Daugaard and legislative leaders on Tuesday. By law, the Census Bureau must provide redistricting data to all 50 states by April 1 of the year following the census.

House Speaker Val Rausch, R-Big Stone City, said the Legislature will set up a committee that will meet several times during the summer to put together a plan for redrawing the state’s legislative districts. A special session of the Legislature will be held, probably in early October, to consider the committee’s recommendations and approve a redistricting plan, he said.

The political balance on the committee will reflect the ratio of Republicans to Democrats in both the House and Senate, which means Republicans will dominate the redistricting committee.

Rausch said early indications are that the Sioux Falls and Rapid City areas will each end up with an additional district because of population changes.

“It looks like the shift has definitely been to those two areas,” he said.

The data includes summaries of population totals, as well as information on race, Hispanic origin and voting age, broken down for multiple geographic divisions. Those divisions will include cities, counties, school districts and voting districts, as well as census blocks and tracts.

Tags: news, updates, state