Comparable baseline
South Dakota at a glance
| Population | 935,094 | July 1, 2025; +5.3% since 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Business applications | 1,224 | July 2026, seasonally adjusted |
| Trailing-12-month applications | 13,221 | 1,413.9 per 100,000 residents |
| High-propensity applications | 301 | 24.6% of July applications |
| Projected employer formations | 84 | Census four-quarter projection for July's cohort |
| Small businesses | 96,770 | SBA 2025 profile; underlying employer and nonemployer data are from 2022 |
| Small-business employment | 216,705 | 58.0% of private employment in 2022 |
| Employer establishments | 29,106 | 2023 County Business Patterns |
Application rankings cover the 50 states and use unrounded figures. Applications are qualifying EIN filings, not confirmed business openings. Measurement years differ because federal datasets are released on different schedules.
South Dakota’s most distinctive business fact is not a surge in applications. It is the role established small firms play in employment. The SBA reported that small businesses employed 216,705 people in 2022, equal to 58.0% of private-sector workers. That share ranked fourth among states.
The composition of the business count points the same way. Of South Dakota’s 96,770 small businesses, 22,742 were small employer firms and 74,028 were nonemployer businesses. Nonemployers still made up 76.5%, but that was the third-lowest share among states—meaning employer firms comprised a comparatively large portion of the total.
Application activity is growing at a middle-ranked pace
Census recorded 1,224 business applications in July 2026, up 23.5% from July 2025 and 8.2% from June. The state produced 13,221 applications over the 12 months through July, a 14.9% increase from the preceding year.
Those growth measures ranked 21st and 30th, respectively. Application intensity was lower: South Dakota’s 130.9 applications per 100,000 residents ranked 37th in July, while its trailing-year rate ranked 36th. Current filing activity is positive without being a leading state distinction.
The Midwest comparison is almost exact. South Dakota’s trailing-year rate was 1,413.9 per 100,000 residents versus a regional median of 1,411.5; its 14.9% growth was modestly below the Midwest median of 16.2%. “Middle-ranked” accurately describes both the national and regional picture.
The small absolute base makes counts important. July’s annual increase represents 233 more applications than the 991 recorded in July 2025. Percentages can move sharply when a state’s monthly total is close to one thousand, so the count belongs beside the rate.
July applications were 127.5% above the 538 recorded in July 2019. South Dakota’s population reached an estimated 935,094 in July 2025, up 5.3% from the 2020 Census base and 10th among states. The measures use different periods and do not show that population growth caused the application change.
The Census model is stronger than the overall application rate
Census classified 301 July filings as high propensity, 24.6% of the total and 30th among states. Its model projected 84 employer formations from the cohort within four quarters, equal to 6.86 per 100 applications and 11th among states.
That modeled ratio is stronger than South Dakota’s mid-30s application-rate ranks, but it is not an observed formation, conversion, or success rate. Applications are qualifying EIN filings, and the model estimates how many may later develop payroll-tax liabilities.
Minnehaha County is the principal employment center
Minnehaha County held 125,353 jobs, or 32.7% of employment covered by 2023 County Business Patterns. Pennington County accounted for 13.7%, and Lincoln County 7.6%. Together, the three represented 53.9% of covered private employment.
Minnehaha is a major center, but its leading-county share ranked 16th rather than among the country’s most concentrated states. The shares describe workplace employment, not where applicants or business owners live.
The statewide CBP universe contained 29,106 employer establishments and 383,805 covered private jobs. Nearly half of those jobs remained outside Minnehaha, Pennington, and Lincoln counties despite the importance of those three markets.
Manufacturing employed 47,333 people, or 12.3% of covered private workers. That was 1.39 times the 50-state employment share—a modest concentration rather than an extreme outlier. Health care and social assistance was the largest covered sector at 74,743 jobs.
Official starting points for a South Dakota business
- File or maintain an entity: Business Services Online handles formations, annual reports, registered-agent changes, reinstatements, and DBAs.
- Review the sequence: The Secretary of State’s business resources page links the state startup checklist and relevant agencies.
- Register taxes and licenses: The Department of Revenue provides tax-license applications and program guidance. The absence of a general corporate income tax does not eliminate other state obligations.
- Get advice: The state’s SBDC consulting listing describes confidential, generally no-cost assistance.
Source and calculation note
Application figures use the Census July 2026 Business Formation Statistics release. Monthly values are seasonally adjusted; trailing-year totals sum unadjusted applications from August 2025 through July 2026 and compare them with the preceding August–July period. Rates use the July 1, 2025 population estimate. SBA measures use 2022 employer and nonemployer components. County and industry figures use 2023 County Business Patterns employment. BizFacts calculated changes, rates, regional medians, ratios, shares, location quotients, and 50-state ranks from sources retrieved September 3, 2026.