Sioux Falls ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into northern Lincoln County. The population was 192,517 at the 2020 census (estimated at 209,289 in 2024). The Sioux Falls metropolitan area, with an estimated 308,000 residents, accounts for more than one-third of South Dakota's population. Chartered in 1856 on the banks of the Big Sioux River, the city is at the junction of Interstates 29 and 90.

History

Sioux Falls's history revolves around the cascades of the Big Sioux River. The falls were created about 14,000 years ago during the last ice age. The lure of the falls has been a powerful influence. Ho-Chunk, Ioway, Otoe, Missouria, Omaha (and Ponca at the time), Quapaw, Kansa, Osage, Arikara, Sioux, and Cheyenne people first inhabited the region. Numerous burial mounds remain on the high bluffs near the river and are spread throughout the vicinity. Indigenous people maintained an agricultural society with fortified villages, and later arrivals rebuilt on many of the sites that were previously settled. Lakota still populate urban and reservation communities in the state and many Lakota, Dakota, and numerous other Indigenous Americans reside in Sioux Falls.

French voyagers/explorers visited the area in the early 18th century. The first documented visit by an American of European descent was by Philander Prescott, who camped overnight at the falls in December 1832. Captain James Allen led a military expedition out of Fort Des Moines in 1844. Jacob Ferris described the Falls in his 1856 book The States and Territories of the Great West.

Two separate groups, the Dakota Land Company of St. Paul and the Western Town Company of Dubuque, Iowa, organized in 1856 to claim the land around the falls, considered a promising townsite for its beauty and waterpower. Each laid out claims, but worked together for mutual protection. They built a temporary barricade of turf that they dubbed "Fort Sod" in response to native tribes attempting to defend their land from the settlers. Seventeen men then spent "the first winter" in Sioux Falls. The next year, the population grew to near 40.

Although conflicts in Minnehaha County between Native Americans and white settlers were few, the Dakota War of 1862 engulfed nearby southwestern Minnesota. The town was evacuated in August 1862 when two local settlers were killed as a result of the conflict. The settlers and soldiers stationed there traveled to Yankton in late August. The abandoned townsite was pillaged and burned.

Fort Dakota, a military reservation established in present-day downtown, was established in May 1865. Many former settlers gradually returned and a new wave of settlers arrived in the following years. The population grew to 593 by 1873, and a building boom was underway in that year. The Village of Sioux Falls, consisting of , was incorporated in 1876 and granted a city charter by the Dakota Territorial legislature on March 3, 1883.

The arrival of the railroads ushered in the great Dakota Boom decade of the 1880s. Sioux Falls's population grew from 2,164 in 1880 to 10,167 in 1889, transforming the city. A severe plague of grasshoppers and a national depression halted the boom by the early 1890s. The city grew by only 89 people from 1890 to 1900.

In the 1890s Sioux Falls became a destination for women seeking divorce, as it had some of the nation's most permissive divorce laws and was accessible by rail. It was known as the "Divorce Colony" and remained a popular venue for divorces until South Dakota changed its residency requirements in 1908.

Prosperity eventually returned with the opening of the John Morrell meat packing plant in 1909, the establishment of an airbase and a military radio and communications training school in 1942, and the completion of the interstate highways in the early 1960s. Much of the growth in the first part of the 20th century was fueled by agriculturally based industry, such as the Morrell plant and the nearby stockyards (one of the largest in the nation).

In 1955 the city consolidated the neighboring incorporated city of South Sioux Falls. At the time South Sioux Falls had a population of nearly 1,600. It was the county's third-largest city after Sioux Falls and Dell Rapids. On October 18, 1955, South Sioux Falls residents voted to consolidate with Sioux Falls. On November 15, Sioux Falls residents also voted to consolidate.

In 1981, to take advantage of recently relaxed state usury laws, Citibank relocated its primary credit card center from New York City to Sioux Falls. Some claim that this is the main reason for the increased population and job growth rates that Sioux Falls has experienced since. Others say that Citibank's relocation was only part of a more general transformation of the city's economy from industrially based to one centered on health care, finance, and retail trade.Hetland, Cara. Sioux Falls 25 years after Citibank's arrival. , Minnesota Public Radio. February 24, 2006. (accessed March 23, 2007)

Sioux Falls has grown rapidly since the late 1970s, with the population more than doubling from 81,182 in 1980 to 192,517 in 2020.

Then-President Bill Clinton made his final stop of the 1996 presidential campaign in Sioux Falls.

2019 tornadoes On the night of September 10, 2019, the south side of Sioux Falls was hit by three strong EF2 tornadoes, severely damaging at least 37 buildings, including the Plaza 41 Shopping Center. One tornado hit the Avera Heart Hospital, damaging parts of the roof and windows and injuring seven people, including a man who fractured his skull as he was thrown into an exterior wall of the hospital. Another tornado hit the commercial district near the Empire Mall, injuring one woman inside her home. Another touched down on the far south side in a suburban residential area, tearing the roofs off homes. The total damage was more than $5 million.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water. The city is in extreme eastern South Dakota, about west of the Minnesota border.

Metropolitan area The Sioux Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of four South Dakota counties (Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha, and Turner) and one Minnesota county (Rock). The estimated population of this MSA in 2022 was 289,592, an increase of 4.6% from the 2020 census. In addition to Sioux Falls, the metropolitan area includes Canton, Brandon, Dell Rapids, Tea, Harrisburg, Worthing, Beresford, Lennox, Hartford, Crooks, Baltic, Montrose, Salem, Renner, Rowena, Chancellor, Colton, Humboldt, Parker, Hurley, Garretson, Sherman, Corson, Viborg, Irene, Centerville, Luverne, Hills, and Beaver Creek.

Climate

Due to its inland location and relatively high latitude, Sioux Falls has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa, bordering on Dwa) characterized by hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters. It is in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5a. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in July; there are 15 days of maximums at or above and 25 days with minimums at or below annually. Snowfall occurs mostly in light to moderate amounts during the winter, totaling . Precipitation, at annually, is concentrated in the warmer months. This results in frequent thunderstorms in summer from convection being built up with the unstable weather patterns. Extremes range from on February 9, 1899 to as recently as June 21, 1988.

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition +Sioux Falls, South Dakota – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 2000Pop 2010% 2000% 2010Non-Hispanic White alone (NH)112,703130,577149,42390.91%84.85%77.62%Black or African American alone (NH)2,1986,41212,0691.77%4.17%6.27%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)2,5583,8314,7452.06%2.49%2.46%Asian alone (NH)1,4672,7245,2691.18%1.77%2.74%Pacific Islander alone (NH)4975690.04%0.05%0.04%Some Other Race alone (NH)951695340.08%0.11%0.28%Mixed Race or Multi-Racial (NH)1,8183,2738,1391.47%2.13%4.23%Hispanic or Latino (any race)3,0876,82712,2692.49%4.44%6.37%Total123,975153,888192,517100.00%100.00%100.00%

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Sioux Falls had a population of 192,517. The median age was 35.3 years. 24.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 14.5% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 98.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 97.0 males age 18 and over.

99.8% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.2% lived in rural areas.

There were 78,405 households in Sioux Falls, of which 29.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 44.5% were married-couple households, 20.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 27.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 83,504 housing units, of which 6.1% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.5% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.4%.

+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number PercentWhite 152,142 79.0%Black or African American 12,190 6.3%American Indian and Alaska Native 5,279 2.7%Asian 5,318 2.8%Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 74 0.0%Some other race 5,676 2.9%Two or more races 11,838 6.1%Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 12,269 6.4%

Population estimate According to city officials, the estimated population had grown to 224,676 as of early 2026.

2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 153,888 people, 61,707 households, and 37,462 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 66,283 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 86.8% White, 4.2% African American, 2.7% Native American, 1.8% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.0% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 4.4% of the population.

Of the 61,707 households, 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.5% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 39.3% were non-families. 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.02.

The median age in the city was 33.6 years. 24.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.7% were from 25 to 44; 24.1% were from 45 to 64; and 10.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.6% male and 50.4% female.

2015 American Community Survey In 2015, the median household income in Minnehaha County, SD was $59,884, while Lincoln County, SD was $76,094. This represents a 0.29% growth from the previous year. The median family income for Sioux Falls was $74,632 in 2015. Males had a median income of $40,187 versus $31,517 for females. The per capita income for the county was $26,392. 11.8% of the population and 8.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 16.8% of those under the age of 18 and 8.8% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.2011–2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

Immigration history Many European immigrants, primarily from Scandinavia, Germany and the British Isles, settled in South Dakota in the 19th century. By 1890, one-third of the residents of South Dakota were immigrants.

Religion