Buffalo County, South Dakota

2024 results by precinct

3 precincts · 466 votes cast

Harris · D+27

Harris +50

Trump +50

Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.

38 presidential elections

Year	Won	Margin	Democratic	Republican	Total
2024	D	+27.3%	291	164	466
2020	D	+30.8%	352	183	549
2016	D	+25.5%	296	171	490
2012	D	+47.7%	472	166	641
2008	D	+48.1%	454	156	619
2004	D	+45.2%	603	223	841
2000	R	−28.4%	140	256	408
1996	D	+51.7%	465	134	640
1992	D	+29.2%	282	137	496
1988	D	+37.3%	334	151	490
1984	R	−3.4%	236	253	494
1980	R	−27.4%	147	272	456
1976	D	+10.6%	240	194	434
1972	D	+10.9%	275	221	497
1968	D	+0.7%	265	261	554
1964	D	+28.6%	501	278	779
1960	D	+6.4%	334	294	628
1956	D	+0.6%	318	314	632
1952	R	−22.9%	259	413	672
1948	D	+3.2%	334	313	652
1944	R	−12.9%	250	324	574
1940	R	−10.8%	395	491	886
1936	D	+5.3%	410	368	795
1932	D	+40.0%	634	270	911
1928	R	−2.3%	387	405	794
1924	R	−11.3%	225	309	744
1920	R	−29.6%	101	200	335
1916	R	−38.5%	80	182	265
1912	D	+53.8%	105	0	195
1908	R	−20.2%	69	105	178
1904	R	−38.5%	43	118	195
1900	D	+6.9%	100	87	188
1896	D	+7.5%	79	68	147
1892	R	−42.2%	13	78	154
1888	—	No data	—	—	—
1884	—	No data	—	—	—
1880	—	No data	—	—	—
1876	—	No data	—	—	—

Demographics

Race, ethnicity, and ancestry

Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.

American

100.0%

Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.

Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.

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. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.

Age distribution by sex

Median age: 22.8 in this county, 39.1 nationally

Male

Age

Female

0.3%

85+

0.2%

2.7%

75–84

0.4%

2.4%

65–74

3.0%

5.0%

55–64

4.4%

4.6%

45–54

4.3%

4.4%

35–44

5.1%

4.3%

25–34

5.7%

8.2%

18–24

5.7%

14.3%

5–17

11.8%

9.6%

3.4%

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Median household income

2024 inflation-adjusted dollars

$47,045

Buffalo County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.

Buffalo County$47,045

South Dakota$75,081

United States$80,734

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Poverty rate

All persons below federal poverty line

33.9%

Children face moderate poverty.

Children under 1818.0%

Working age (18–64)100.0%

Seniors (65+)18.0%

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Language at home

Population aged 5 and older

0.0%

speak English only

Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.

Religious adherents

Adherents per capita by tradition

Catholic & Orthodox

68.2%

Mainline Protestant

8.4%

Non-Christian

0.9%

Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 22.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

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.

The Democratic margin in Buffalo County peaked at fifty-four points in 1912. By 2004 the county had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was twenty-seven points, the most Democratic-leaning result in the county's modern history.

The economic context is the key. Buffalo County's median household income of $47,045 sits well below state and national norms, and 34% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Hertford County and Warren County.

Most similar counties

Buffalo County was solidly one party for decades. In the last twenty years, it flipped.