SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — From 2010 to 2020, the resident population of South Dakota grew by 72,487, according to the decennial census.

The 2020 U.S. Census reported South Dakota had a resident population of 886,667, up 72,487 from 814,180 in 2010.

The apportionment population for South Dakota is 887,770, which is 68,009 more than 2010’s population count of 819,761. The apportionment population is a congressionally defined formula applied to the apportionment population to distribute the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the states. The apportionment population includes the resident population and overseas population. The overseas population includes U.S. military personnel and federal civilian employees living outside the United States — and their dependents living with them — who can be allocated to a home state. 

In 2020, S.D. had an overseas population of 1,103, compared to 5,581 in 2010. You can compare the numbers in the graphs below. 

South Dakota’s population ranks higher than Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska and North Dakota.

South Dakota State University professor and State Demographer Weiwei Zhang said the 8.9% growth rate from 2010 to 2020 is the highest growth rate in South Dakota since the 1930s.

“It’s the highest in eight decades and it’s higher than the Midwest and national averages,” Zhang said. “If you break the growth into years, our growth in this decade is more even year-by-year.”  

The 2020 count is the population based on April 1, 2020. The U.S. growth rate was 7.4% and the Midwest growth rate was 3.1%.

Zhang, who also serves as the State Representative for Federal-State-Cooperative-Population Estimates, said the decennial census is really important, even if there’s yearly population estimates. She’s in the process of helping the U.S. Census Bureau review the county-by-county data.

“A lot of those population estimates are built from those decennial censuses,” Zhang said. “If we get the base number off, the error or margin of error will be carried for another decade.”

She said when the county-by-county data becomes available more policy and programming impacts will come from the 2020 census. 

“For our state, it’s good to see that for the past three decades, the state has been growing on average 7-8 percent,” Zhang said.

The total population for the United States was 331,449,281. The most populous state was California (39,538,223) and the least populous was Wyoming (576,851). The U.S. growth rate was 7.4% and the Midwest growth rate was 3.1%.

The state that gained the most numerically since the 2010 Census was Texas (up 3,999,944 to 29,145,505). Utah grew at largest rate of 18.4% from 2010 to 2020.

The Census Bureau’s redistricting data, which will include the local area counts states need to redraw or “redistrict” legislative boundaries, is expected to be finished by September.