Dewey County, South Dakota

Dewey County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,239. Its county seat is Timber Lake. The county was created in 1883 and organized in 1910. It was named for William P. Dewey, 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.

The county has a total area of 2445 sqmi, of which 2302 sqmi is land and 143 sqmi (5.8%) is water.

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.

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 212.svg|23px]] U.S. Highway 212
 * [[Image:SD 20.svg|20px]] South Dakota Highway 20
 * [[Image:SD 63.svg|20px]] South Dakota Highway 63
 * [[Image:SD 65.svg|20px]] South Dakota Highway 65

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

2020 census
As of the 2020 census, there were 5,239 people, 1,705 households, and 1,180 families residing in the county. The population density was 2.3 PD/sqmi. 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 PD/sqmi. There were 2,002 housing units at an average density of 0.9 /mi2. 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.

Cities

 * Eagle Butte (partial)
 * Timber Lake (county seat)

Town

 * Isabel

Census-designated places

 * Green Grass
 * La Plant
 * Lantry
 * North Eagle Butte
 * Swift Bird
 * Whitehorse

Unincorporated communities

 * Bear Creek
 * Firesteel
 * Glencross
 * Parade
 * Promise
 * Ridgeview

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 3,819 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.