Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota
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Oglala Lakota County (known as Shannon County until May 2015) is a
county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
in southwestern
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,672. Oglala Lakota County does not have a functioning
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
;
Hot Springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...
in neighboring Fall River County serves as its administrative center. The county was created as a part of the Dakota Territory in 1875, although it remains unorganized. Its largest community is Pine Ridge. The county lies entirely within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and contains part of Badlands National Park. It is one of five South Dakota counties entirely on an
Indian reservation An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...
. The county is named after the Oglala Lakota, a band of the
Lakota people The Lakota (; or ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people. Also known as the Teton Sioux (from ), they are one of the three prominent subcultures of the Sioux people, with the Eastern Dakota (Santee) and Western D ...
. Many of the county's inhabitants are members of this sub-tribe. Reservation poverty affects the county, which is the poorest county in the United States (only 28 county-equivalents in the U.S. territories are poorer). Oglala Lakota County is the only dry county in South Dakota. The newspaper for Oglala Lakota County is ''The Lakota Country Times''.


History

The Wounded Knee Massacre occurred in Oglala Lakota County in 1890. The county was originally named for Peter C. Shannon, Chief Justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court. Until 1982, Shannon County and Washabaugh County, South Dakota, were the last unorganized counties in the United States. Although it was organized and received a home rule charter that year, the county, as noted above, contracts with Fall River County for its Auditor, Treasurer, and Registrar of Deeds. On November 4, 2014, voters in the county voted by a margin of 2,161 to 526 to rename Shannon County to Oglala Lakota County. The name change was ratified by the state legislature on March 5, 2015. May 1, 2015 was proclaimed by the governor as the official day for renaming the county.


Geography

Oglala Lakota County lies on the south side of South Dakota. Its south boundary line abuts the north boundary line of the state of
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
. The Cheyenne River flows northeastward along the northwest boundary of Oglala Lakota County. The White River flows northeastward through the central part of the county. The county terrain is composed of semi-arid rolling hills spotted with small mountain crests, oriented NE-SW.''Shannon County SD'' Google Maps (accessed February 7, 2019)
/ref> The terrain slopes to the northeast; its highest point is on the south boundary line, close to the SW corner, at ASL. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.1%) is water. It is the 8th largest county in South Dakota by total area. The county includes the headwaters of the Little White River.


Major highways

* U.S. Highway 18 * South Dakota Highway 40 * South Dakota Highway 391 * South Dakota Highway 407


Adjacent counties

* Pennington County - north * Jackson County - northeast * Bennett County - east * Sheridan County, Nebraska - south * Dawes County, Nebraska - southwest * Fall River County - west * Custer County - northwest


National protected area

* Badlands National Park (part)


Lakes

* Alkali Lake * Denby Lake * Lee Lake * Oglala Lake * Two Lance Lake * Wakpamani Lake * White Clay Lake Source:


Demographics

According to a 2025 Census Bureau survey, Oglala Lakota County had the highest percentage of unmarried adults of any county in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.


2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 13,672 people, 3,208 households, and 2,488 families residing in the county. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 3,454 housing units.


2000 census

As of the 2000 census, there were 12,466 people, 2,785 households, and 2,353 families residing in the county. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 3,123 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 4.51%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.08%
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 94.20% American Indian, 0.02% Asian, 0.05%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.22% from other races, and 0.91% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 1.42% of the population. There were 2,785 households, out of which 51.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.40% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 36.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.50% were non-families. 13.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.36 and the average family size was 4.72. The county population contained 45.30% under the age of 18, 10.60% from 18 to 24, 25.60% from 25 to 44, 13.80% from 45 to 64, and 4.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 21 years. For every 100 females there were 99.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.60 males. The median income for a household in the county was $20,916, and the median income for a family was $20,897. Males had a median income of $25,170 versus $22,594 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the county was $6,286. About 45.10% of families and 52.30% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 60.80% of those under age 18 and 36.00% of those age 65 or over.


Health and life expectancy

Of 3,142 counties in the United States in 2014, Oglala Lakota County ranked last in the life expectancy of both male and female residents. Males in Oglala Lakota County lived an average of 62.8 years and females lived an average of 71.0 years compared to the national average for life expectancy of 76.7 for males and 81.5 for females. The average life expectancy in Oglala Lakota County increased by 6.2 for males and 4.1 years for females between 1980 and 2014, compared to an increase in the national average for the same period of an increased life span of 6.7 years for men and 3.9 years for women. In 2021, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ranked Oglala Lakota County last of 61 counties in South Dakota in "health outcomes," as measured by length and quality of life.


Politics

The counties surrounding Oglala Lakota County are predominantly Republican, but, like most Native American counties, residents of Oglala Lakota are mostly Democrats, giving over 75 percent of the vote to every Democratic presidential nominee in every election back to 1984, making it one of the most Democratic counties in the United States. No Republican has carried the county in a presidential election since 1952. In 2012, Oglala Lakota County (then known as Shannon) was the county with the highest percentage of vote for Barack Obama in the United States. However, the local politics are a bit more divided: Oglala Lakota County lies within the 27th District of the South Dakota Legislature, represented by three Lakotas, two Democrats and one Republican. Democrat Red Dawn Foster represents the county in the Senate, while Democrat Peri Pourier and Republican Liz Marty May represents the county in the House.


Communities


Town

* Batesland


Census-designated places

* Kyle * Manderson-White Horse Creek * Oglala * Pine Ridge * Porcupine * Wounded Knee


Unincorporated communities

Source: * Denby * Red Shirt * Rockyford * Sharps Corner


Townships

There are no townships. The county is divided into two areas of unorganized territory: East Oglala Lakota and West Oglala Lakota (formerly East Shannon and West Shannon, respectively).


See also

* List of counties in South Dakota * National Register of Historic Places listings in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota


References


External links

* {{Authority control South Dakota placenames of Native American origin 1875 establishments in Dakota Territory Populated places established in 1875