Boundary by 2024 margin · Precinct returns · VEST · MIT Election Lab
People and households
Who lives here
Exact values for this place, its state, and the United States.
Race · ethnicity · ancestry
Communities and origins
GroupBuffalo CountySouth DakotaUnited States
Oglala Sioux1.1%2.0%—
Rosebud Sioux0.9%1.1%—
German7.2%33.1%12.5%
American7.2%4.4%5.3%
Norwegian2.4%10.4%—
French1.1%—1.6%
Dutch0.9%3.4%—
Danish0.7%0.8%—
English0.5%7.7%9.5%
Irish0.4%9.9%9.4%
Spaniard0.9%——
Mexican0.8%2.6%11.3%
Hispanic or Latino counts residents of any race; the race groups count only their non-Hispanic residents, so the groups are mutually exclusive and sum to 100%. Expand a row to see ancestries reported within that group.
Age and life stage
Measure
Buffalo County
South Dakota
United States
Median age
22.8
38.2
39.1
Age 18–24
13.9%
9.2%
9.2%
Age 65 and older
9.0%
18.0%
17.2%
Household economy
Measure
Buffalo County
South Dakota
United States
Median household income
$47,045
$75,081
$84,427
Poverty rate
33.9%
12.0%
12.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher (25+)
9.9%
31.9%
35.6%
Languages at home
Measure
Buffalo County
South Dakota
United States
Speaks a non-English language at home
0.9%
7.1%
22.3%
Religious landscape
Measure
Buffalo County
South Dakota
United States
Catholic
68.2%
14.8%
18.6%
Evangelical Protestant
—
20.1%
16.5%
Unclaimed / not counted
22.5%
44.9%
51.5%
Mainline Protestant
8.4%
18.0%
5.2%
American Community Survey 2024 5-year (CVAP, income, age, poverty, education, language, race, ancestry) · presidential returns from MIT Election Lab through 2024 · 2020 U.S. Religion Census (ASARB) — congregational adherents; unclaimed is the residual not counted by congregations.
Buffalo County, South Dakota
Precinct data
Results by precinct
6 precincts · 466 votes
Precinct boundaries and identifiers are cycle-specific. This table does not join rows across years without a validated crosswalk.
Buffalo County precinct-level presidential election results for 2024
Precinct -33
237
43
6
286
82.9%
15.0%
D+67.8
Precinct -11
17
89
2
108
15.7%
82.4%
R+66.7
Precinct -22
37
32
3
72
51.4%
44.4%
D+6.9
VTD-precinct 11
0
0
0
0
—
—
Even
VTD-precinct 22
0
0
0
0
—
—
Even
VTD-precinct 33
0
0
0
0
—
—
Even
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1892–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
Presidential margin over time
Year
Margin (D minus R)
1892
−42.2%
1896
+7.5%
1900
+6.9%
1904
−38.5%
1908
−20.2%
1912
+53.8%
1916
+38.5%
1920
−29.6%
1924
−11.3%
1928
−2.3%
1932
+40.0%
1936
+5.3%
1940
−10.8%
1944
−12.9%
1948
+3.2%
1952
−22.9%
1956
+0.6%
1960
+6.4%
1964
+28.6%
1968
+0.7%
1972
+10.9%
1976
+10.6%
1980
−27.4%
1984
−3.4%
1988
+37.3%
1992
+29.2%
1996
+51.7%
2000
+28.4%
2004
+45.2%
2008
+48.1%
2012
+47.7%
2016
+25.5%
2020
+30.8%
2024
+27.3%
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
Third column names the leading third-party or independent finisher. Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024). Swing · margin change from the prior cycle. vs U.S. · margin relative to the national result that year.
Year
Won
Democratic
Republican
Other
Margin
Swing
vs U.S.
Total
D
62.4%Harris291
35.2%Trump164
1.9%Kennedy9
D+27.3
R+3.5
D+28.7
466
D
64.1%Biden352
33.3%Trump183
2.6%Jorgensen14
D+30.8
D+5.3
D+26.3
549
D
60.4%Clinton296
34.9%Trump171
3.7%Johnson18
D+25.5
R+22.2
D+23.4
490
D
73.6%Obama472
25.9%Romney166
0.5%
D+47.7
R+0.4
D+43.9
641
D
73.3%Obama454
25.2%McCain156
1.5%
D+48.1
D+3.0
D+40.9
619
D
71.7%Kerry603
26.5%Bush223
1.8%
D+45.2
D+16.8
D+47.6
841
D
62.7%Gore256
34.3%Bush140
2.9%
D+28.4
R+23.3
D+27.9
408
D
72.7%Clinton465
20.9%Dole134
5.5%Perot35
D+51.7
D+22.5
D+43.2
640
D
56.9%Clinton282
27.6%Bush137
14.5%Perot72
D+29.2
R+8.1
D+23.7
496
D
68.2%Dukakis334
30.8%Bush151
1.0%
D+37.3
D+40.8
D+45.1
490
R
47.8%Mondale236
51.2%Reagan253
1.0%
R+3.4
D+24.0
D+14.8
494
R
32.2%Carter147
59.6%Reagan272
8.1%
R+27.4
R+38.0
R+17.7
456
D
55.3%Carter240
44.7%Ford194
0.0%
D+10.6
R+0.3
D+8.5
434
D
55.3%McGovern275
44.5%Nixon221
0.2%
D+10.9
D+10.1
D+34.0
497
D
47.8%Humphrey265
47.1%Nixon261
5.1%
D+0.7
R+27.9
D+1.4
554
D
64.3%Johnson501
35.7%Goldwater278
0.0%
D+28.6
D+22.3
D+6.0
779
D
53.2%Kennedy334
46.8%Nixon294
0.0%
D+6.4
D+5.7
D+6.2
628
D
50.3%Stevenson318
49.7%Eisenhower314
0.0%
D+0.6
D+23.5
D+16.0
632
R
38.5%Stevenson259
61.5%Eisenhower413
0.0%
R+22.9
R+26.1
R+12.2
672
D
51.2%Truman334
48.0%Dewey313
0.8%
D+3.2
D+16.1
R+1.3
652
R
43.6%Roosevelt250
56.4%Dewey324
0.0%
R+12.9
R+2.1
R+20.4
574
R
44.6%Roosevelt395
55.4%Willkie491
0.0%
R+10.8
R+16.1
R+20.8
886
D
51.6%Roosevelt410
46.3%Landon368
2.1%
D+5.3
R+34.7
R+19.0
795
D
69.6%Roosevelt634
29.6%Hoover270
0.8%
D+40.0
D+42.2
D+22.2
911
R
48.7%Smith387
51.0%Hoover405
0.3%
R+2.3
D+9.0
D+15.2
794
R
30.2%Davis225
41.5%Coolidge309
28.2%La Follette210
R+11.3
D+18.3
D+13.9
744
R
30.1%Cox101
59.7%Harding200
10.1%
R+29.6
R+68.0
R+3.4
335
D
68.7%Wilson182
30.2%Hughes80
1.1%
D+38.5
R+15.4
D+35.3
265
D
53.8%Wilson105
0.0%Taft0
46.2%
D+53.8
D+74.1
D+34.3
195
R
38.8%Bryan69
59.0%Taft105
2.2%
R+20.2
D+18.2
R+10.7
178
R
22.1%Parker43
60.5%Roosevelt118
17.4%
R+38.5
R+45.4
R+18.8
195
D
53.2%Bryan100
46.3%McKinley87
0.5%
D+6.9
R+0.6
D+14.5
188
D
53.7%Bryan79
46.3%McKinley68
0.0%
D+7.5
D+49.7
D+13.6
147
R
8.4%Cleveland13
50.6%Harrison78
40.9%
R+42.2
—
R+43.9
154
—
—
—
—
No data
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
No data
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
No data
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
No data
—
—
—
Congressional elections · 2 Senate races
U.S. Senate
Source · MIT Election Lab (MEDSL), Senate. CC-BY 4.0.
Year
Won
Democratic
Republican
Total
2022
D
51.8%202
44.4%173
390
2020
D
59.1%322
40.9%223
545
voter registration
Registered voters
By party of registration, over time
Party registration · 2026D+40.7
vs
Presidential vote · 2024D+27.3
Registration leans Democratic; the presidential vote runs 13 points more Democratic.
Net migration over time, and who arrivals are — where they came from and what those places vote
−12 net domestic migration · 2025
20112025
Net −306 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Arrivals reported $32,067 in average income, against $40,991 for residents who stayed — 22% lower. (IRS SOI, 2022–23)
Migration is one input to a place’s political change, not its cause — a shift can also come from residents changing their minds, generational turnover, or turnout. These figures describe the places people moved between; they do not measure how any mover voted.
Domestic migration in Buffalo County, SD in Buffalo County, SD: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
+10
2012
−4
2013
−19
2014
+20
2015
−21
2016
−78
2017
−42
2018
+3
2019
−64
2021
−18
2022
−48
2023
+32
2024
−65
2025
−12
Buffalo County's electorate is shaped by the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation, which covers most of its land area and drives the county's consistent and substantial Democratic margins in statewide and federal contests.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 53.8 points in 1912 and a Republican high of 42.2 points in 1892. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved 3.5 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 27.3 points.
A population of 1,808, a 18% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $47,045 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Dewey County and Corson County.
Akashic
Political twins — counties
The counties whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
How did Buffalo County, South Dakota vote in 2024?
In 2024, Buffalo County, South Dakota voted Democratic by 27.3 points (D+27.3), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 466 votes cast, 291 went Democratic and 164 went Republican.
When did Buffalo County, South Dakota last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Buffalo County, South Dakota voted Republican was 1984.
How many people live in Buffalo County, South Dakota?
Buffalo County, South Dakota has a population of 1,808 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Buffalo County, South Dakota?
Median household income in Buffalo County, South Dakota is $47,045 — below the national median of $80,734. The South Dakota state median is $75,081.
What is the political history of Buffalo County, South Dakota?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Buffalo County, South Dakota from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 23 went Democratic and 11 went Republican.
