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Dewey County
Dewey County
County
	Forest City Bridge
	Location within the U.S. state of South Dakota
	South Dakota's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 45°10′N 100°53′W / 45.16°N 100.88°W
Country	United States
State	South Dakota
Founded	1883 (created); 1910 (organized)
Named for	William P. Dewey
Seat	Timber Lake
Largest community	North Eagle Butte
Area
• Total	2,445 sq mi (6,330 km2)
• Land	2,302 sq mi (5,960 km2)
• Water	143 sq mi (370 km2) 5.8%
Population (2020)
• Total	5,239
• Estimate (2023)	5,208
• Density	2.1/sq mi (0.83/km2)
Time zone	UTC−7 (Mountain)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−6 (MDT)
Congressional district	At-large

Dewey County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,239.^[1] Its county seat is Timber Lake.^[2] The county was created in 1883 and organized in 1910.^[3] It was named for William P. Dewey,^[4] Territorial surveyor-general from 1873 to 1877.

Almost the entire county lies in the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. The balance of the county, along its extreme northern county line, lies in the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. It is one of five South Dakota counties that are contained within Indian reservations.

Geography

The Moreau River flows east-northeasterly through the upper central parts of Dewey County, discharging into the Missouri River near the county's NE corner. Smaller drainages move runoff water northward from the central-eastern portions to the Missouri River, discharging near the community of Promise. A significant arm of the Missouri River forms the county's southeastern border. The county terrain consists of rolling hills, sloping southeastward and dropping off into the Missouri River basin.^[5]

The county has a total area of 2,445 square miles (6,330 km²), of which 2,302 square miles (5,960 km²) is land and 143 square miles (370 km²) (5.8%) is water.^[6]

The eastern portion of South Dakota's counties (48 of 66) observe Central Time; the western counties (18 of 66) observe Mountain Time. Dewey County is the easternmost of the SD counties to observe Mountain Time.^[7]

Major highways

Adjacent counties

Corson County – north
Walworth County – northeast (observes Central Time)
Potter County – east (observes Central Time)
Sully County – southeast (observes Central Time)
Stanley County – south
Ziebach County – west

Protected Areas

Firesteel Dam State Game Production Area
Isabel Lake State Game Production Area
Little Moreau State Game Production Area
Little Moreau State Recreation Area

Lakes

Lake Isabel
Lake Oahe (partial)
Little Moreau Lake

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1910	1,145		—
1920	4,802		319.4%
1930	6,476		34.9%
1940	5,709		−11.8%
1950	4,916		−13.9%
1960	5,257		6.9%
1970	5,170		−1.7%
1980	5,366		3.8%
1990	5,523		2.9%
2000	5,972		8.1%
2010	5,301		−11.2%
2020	5,239		−1.2%
2023 (est.)	5,208	^[8]	−0.6%
U.S. Decennial Census^[9] 1790-1960^[10] 1900-1990^[11] 1990-2000^[12] 2010-2020^[1]

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 5,239 people, 1,705 households, and 1,180 families residing in the county.^[13] The population density was 2.3 inhabitants per square mile (0.89/km²). There were 1,923 housing units.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 5,301 people, 1,730 households, and 1,239 families in the county. The population density was 2.3 inhabitants per square mile (0.89/km²). There were 2,002 housing units at an average density of 0.9 units per square mile (0.35 units/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 74.9% American Indian, 21.0% white, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% black or African American, 0.2% from other races, and 3.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 13.2% were German, 6.5% were Irish, and 0.6% were American.

Of the 1,730 households, 45.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.6% were married couples living together, 24.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 28.4% were non-families, and 24.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 3.05 and the average family size was 3.60. The median age was 30.0 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $33,255 and the median income for a family was $40,500. Males had a median income of $33,942 versus $28,594 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,632. About 20.5% of families and 30.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 39.5% of those under age 18 and 13.5% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

Eagle Butte (partial)
Timber Lake (county seat)

Town

Isabel

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Unorganized territories

The county is divided into two areas of unorganized territory: North Dewey and South Dewey.

Politics

Dewey has since the 1990s been a strongly Democratic county in solidly Republican South Dakota. The last Republican to carry the county was Ronald Reagan in his 1984 landslide when he came within 3,761 votes of claiming all fifty states. Before this period, by contrast, Dewey was a Republican-leaning county even for South Dakota. Between its formation and 1984, Dewey had voted Democratic only in the three landslide Democratic wins of 1964, 1936 and 1932, plus for Woodrow Wilson in 1916 when his anti-war policies had strong appeal in the West.

United States presidential election results for Dewey County, South Dakota^[17]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	793	42.38%	1,032	55.16%	46	2.46%
2020	790	40.18%	1,131	57.53%	45	2.29%
2016	723	42.33%	888	51.99%	97	5.68%
2012	663	34.99%	1,207	63.69%	25	1.32%
2008	659	32.64%	1,328	65.78%	32	1.58%
2004	921	35.92%	1,606	62.64%	37	1.44%
2000	761	45.27%	880	52.35%	40	2.38%
1996	657	33.20%	1,114	56.29%	208	10.51%
1992	642	36.64%	766	43.72%	344	19.63%
1988	765	42.76%	1,007	56.29%	17	0.95%
1984	941	54.49%	772	44.70%	14	0.81%
1980	1,045	59.14%	600	33.96%	122	6.90%
1976	820	53.46%	706	46.02%	8	0.52%
1972	1,008	58.88%	699	40.83%	5	0.29%
1968	941	52.72%	721	40.39%	123	6.89%
1964	981	43.79%	1,259	56.21%	0	0.00%
1960	1,168	52.80%	1,044	47.20%	0	0.00%
1956	1,197	56.76%	912	43.24%	0	0.00%
1952	1,301	66.34%	660	33.66%	0	0.00%
1948	864	53.80%	727	45.27%	15	0.93%
1944	913	64.12%	511	35.88%	0	0.00%
1940	1,396	56.36%	1,081	43.64%	0	0.00%
1936	1,012	44.25%	1,216	53.17%	59	2.58%
1932	710	30.51%	1,591	68.37%	26	1.12%
1928	1,293	56.39%	996	43.44%	4	0.17%
1924	956	53.05%	222	12.32%	624	34.63%
1920	880	63.31%	335	24.10%	175	12.59%
1916	352	47.00%	379	50.60%	18	2.40%
1912	0	0.00%	411	42.20%	563	57.80%