Sully County, South Dakota: Stable Rural Right county. In 2024, voted R+61%. Republican peak: R+72 in 1904.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+61MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Stable Rural RightAkashic typology
- Population
- 1,5262024 5-year
- Median household income
- $72,5782024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 86.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 4.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 0.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+49 in 2000MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+72 in 1904MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Stanley County, SD · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
Precinct
Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Hover precincts for detail. Real precinct boundaries forthcoming.
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1876–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1876 | No data |
| 1880 | No data |
| 1884 | No data |
| 1888 | No data |
| 1892 | −49.4% |
| 1896 | −13.8% |
| 1900 | −31.3% |
| 1904 | −71.5% |
| 1908 | −39.7% |
| 1912 | +42.3% |
| 1916 | +2.3% |
| 1920 | −45.9% |
| 1924 | −44.4% |
| 1928 | −41.2% |
| 1932 | +25.6% |
| 1936 | −20.2% |
| 1940 | −29.4% |
| 1944 | −34.2% |
| 1948 | −17.5% |
| 1952 | −41.9% |
| 1956 | −19.0% |
| 1960 | −28.3% |
| 1964 | −5.6% |
| 1968 | −28.4% |
| 1972 | −30.1% |
| 1976 | −11.0% |
| 1980 | −55.0% |
| 1984 | −51.5% |
| 1988 | −17.7% |
| 1992 | −28.9% |
| 1996 | −26.4% |
| 2000 | +48.7% |
| 2004 | −54.6% |
| 2008 | −41.8% |
| 2012 | −52.2% |
| 2016 | −63.0% |
| 2020 | −58.2% |
| 2024 | −60.8% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 168 | 716 | 901 | ||
| R | 185 | 726 | 930 | ||
| R | 137 | 679 | 861 | ||
| R | 186 | 613 | 818 | ||
| R | 233 | 581 | 833 | ||
| R | 201 | 702 | 917 | ||
| D | 633 | 209 | 871 | ||
| R | 321 | 592 | 1,025 | ||
| R | 273 | 565 | 1,010 | ||
| R | 393 | 571 | 1,006 | ||
| R | 266 | 836 | 1,107 | ||
| R | 220 | 852 | 1,149 | ||
| R | 505 | 630 | 1,139 | ||
| R | 414 | 773 | 1,191 | ||
| R | 356 | 676 | 1,125 | ||
| R | 596 | 667 | 1,263 | ||
| R | 483 | 864 | 1,347 | ||
| R | 494 | 726 | 1,220 | ||
| R | 352 | 860 | 1,212 | ||
| R | 405 | 579 | 992 | ||
| R | 300 | 612 | 912 | ||
| R | 458 | 840 | 1,298 | ||
| R | 437 | 667 | 1,138 | ||
| D | 961 | 559 | 1,569 | ||
| R | 415 | 999 | 1,417 | ||
| R | 138 | 555 | 940 | ||
| R | 147 | 542 | 861 | ||
| D | 281 | 268 | 557 | ||
| O | 242 | 0 | 572 | ||
| R | 154 | 368 | 539 | ||
| R | 50 | 364 | 439 | ||
| R | 152 | 294 | 454 | ||
| R | 198 | 262 | 465 | ||
| R | 39 | 278 | 484 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
27.5%
English
14.6%
Irish
9.4%
American
5.0%
Polish
1.6%
French
1.3%
Scottish
0.9%
African American
3.6%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
2024 ACS
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 46.9 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Median household income
Inflation-adjusted dollars
$72,578
Sully County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Sully County$72,578
South Dakota$75,081
United States$80,734
Sully County ranks near the middle of US counties by median household income.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
6.3%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 180.0%
Working age (18–64)6.5%
Seniors (65+)20.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
94.3%
speak English only
Other languages3.9%
Other Indo-European1.0%
Spanish0.7%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 55.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Sully County's roughly 1,500 residents are spread across nearly 1,000 square miles of Missouri River plateau, and its presidential margins have exceeded R+50 in every cycle since at least 2000.
The Republican margin here reached seventy-two points in 1904. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved three points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was sixty-one points.
A population of 1,526, a 87% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $72,578 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Stanley County and Jones County.
Most similar counties
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Sully County, South Dakota. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/46119/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in South Dakota
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Frequently asked questions
How did Sully County, South Dakota vote in 2024?
In 2024, Sully County, South Dakota voted Republican by 60.8 points (R+61), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 901 votes cast, 168 went Democratic and 716 went Republican.
What is Sully County, South Dakota's political typology?
Akashic places Sully County, South Dakota in the "Stable Rural Right" typology — Mountain, Plains, and rural Republican counties already near their ceiling, with little further room to swing. The typology is a data-driven cluster built from vote share, vote swing, race and ethnicity, income, language spoken at home, religion, and ancestry. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 3 times, Republican 30 times, and other 1 times.
When did Sully County, South Dakota last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Sully County, South Dakota voted Democratic was 2000.
How many people live in Sully County, South Dakota?
Sully County, South Dakota has a population of 1,526 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Sully County, South Dakota?
Median household income in Sully County, South Dakota is $72,578 — below the national median of $80,734. The South Dakota state median is $75,081.
What is the political history of Sully County, South Dakota?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Sully County, South Dakota from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 3 went Democratic and 30 went Republican. The county's typology — "Stable Rural Right" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.