Haakon County, South Dakota

Haakon County
Haakon County
County
	Haakon County Courthouse in Philip
	Location within the U.S. state of South Dakota
	South Dakota's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 44°18′N 101°32′W / 44.3°N 101.53°W
Country	United States
State	South Dakota
Founded	1914 (created); 1915 (organized)
Named for	Haakon VII of Norway
Seat	Philip
Largest city	Philip
Area
• Total	1,827 sq mi (4,730 km2)
• Land	1,811 sq mi (4,690 km2)
• Water	16 sq mi (40 km2) 0.9%
Population (2020)
• Total	1,872
• Estimate (2023)	1,851
• Density	1.0/sq mi (0.40/km2)
Time zone	UTC−7 (Mountain)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−6 (MDT)
Congressional district	At-large
Website	haakon.southdakotadirectors.com

Haakon County^{[pronunciation?]} is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,872.^[1] Its county seat is Philip.^[2]

History

The county was created in 1914 and organized in 1915,^[3] and was formed from the original counties of Nowlin and most of Sterling, which had previously been absorbed by Stanley County. It is named for Haakon VII, who became king of Norway in 1905. It is the only county in South Dakota named for a non-American person and is one of only nine counties in South Dakota named for persons who did not live in South Dakota.^[4] Most of South Dakota's counties are named for early South Dakota officials or legislators, or for physical features (Fall River and Lake), or are derived from Native American words (Minnehaha and Yankton), or from counties in other states (Jones and Walworth), with one (Aurora) named for a Roman goddess, one for an animal (Buffalo), and one (Union) for a concept.

Geography

The terrain of Haakon County consists of semi-arid rolling hills, carved with gullies and drainages, partially devoted to agriculture. The Cheyenne River, a tributary of the Missouri River, flows northeastward along the county's north boundary line, and the Bad River flows east-northeastward through the lower part of the county, both heading for their discharge points into the Missouri.^[5] The terrain slopes to the northeast, and its highest point is near the midpoint of its western boundary line, at 2,802 ft (854 m) ASL.^[6]

Haakon County has a total area of 1,827 square miles (4,730 km²), of which 1,811 square miles (4,690 km²) is land and 16 square miles (41 km²) (0.9%) is water.^[7]

The eastern portion of South Dakota's counties (48 of 66) observe Central Time; the western counties (18 of 66) observe Mountain Time. Haakon County is the easternmost of the SD counties to observe Mountain Time.^[8]

Major highways

Adjacent counties

Ziebach County - north
Stanley County - east
Jones County - southeast (observes Central Time)
Jackson County - south
Pennington County - west

Protected areas

Billsburg State Game Production Area
Cheyenne State Game Production Area (part)

Lakes

Source:^[5]

Waggoner Lake

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1920	4,596		—
1930	4,679		1.8%
1940	3,515		−24.9%
1950	3,167		−9.9%
1960	3,303		4.3%
1970	2,802		−15.2%
1980	2,794		−0.3%
1990	2,624		−6.1%
2000	2,196		−16.3%
2010	1,937		−11.8%
2020	1,872		−3.4%
2023 (est.)	1,851	^[9]	−1.1%
U.S. Decennial Census^[10] 1790-1960^[11] 1900-1990^[12] 1990-2000^[13] 2010-2020^[1]

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 1,872 people, 773 households, and 510 families residing in the county.^[14] The population density was 1.0 inhabitant per square mile (0.39/km²). There were 931 housing units.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 1,937 people, 850 households, and 540 families in the county. The population density was 1.1 inhabitants per square mile (0.42/km²). There were 1,013 housing units at an average density of 0.6 per square mile (0.23/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 94.7% white, 1.9% American Indian, 0.4% Asian, 0.2% black or African American, 0.1% Pacific islander, 0.2% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 45.4% were German, 19.4% were Irish, 17.6% were Norwegian, 8.6% were English, 6.2% were Czech, 5.1% were Dutch, and 1.2% were American.

Of the 850 households, 23.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.6% were married couples living together, 4.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.5% were non-families, and 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.86. The median age was 48.8 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $46,281 and the median income for a family was $60,000. Males had a median income of $37,679 versus $22,277 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,877. About 13.2% of families and 12.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.9% of those under age 18 and 13.7% of those age 65 or over.

Housing cost

In 2007, the average price (in US dollars) for housing was:^[15]

Single family home: $143,052
Town homes and other attached homes: $116,019
Twin homes: $176,744
Mobile homes: $51,477

Communities

Towns

Philip (county seat)
Midland

Unincorporated communities

Source:^[5]

Billsburg
Kirley
Milesville
Nowlin
Ottumwa
West Fork

Unorganized territories

East Haakon
West Haakon

Politics

The Haakon County voters are reliably Republican. In no national election since 1936 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate.

United States presidential election results for Haakon County, South Dakota^[16]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	1,026	90.24%	105	9.23%	6	0.53%
2016	936	89.66%	77	7.38%	31	2.97%
2012	940	86.08%	138	12.64%	14	1.28%
2008	939	81.44%	187	16.22%	27	2.34%
2004	1,007	81.21%	219	17.66%	14	1.13%
2000	938	83.08%	164	14.53%	27	2.39%
1996	887	68.81%	284	22.03%	118	9.15%
1992	860	65.25%	209	15.86%	249	18.89%
1988	958	70.91%	379	28.05%	14	1.04%
1984	1,168	82.84%	237	16.81%	5	0.35%
1980	1,162	79.32%	255	17.41%	48	3.28%
1976	812	61.89%	477	36.36%	23	1.75%
1972	1,021	73.14%	366	26.22%	9	0.64%
1968	759	60.96%	377	30.28%	109	8.76%
1964	795	54.56%	662	45.44%	0	0.00%
1960	980	62.22%	595	37.78%	0	0.00%
1956	936	61.18%	594	38.82%	0	0.00%
1952	1,176	74.81%	396	25.19%	0	0.00%
1948	753	57.92%	519	39.92%	28	2.15%
1944	638	62.61%	381	37.39%	0	0.00%
1940	1,129	61.49%	707	38.51%	0	0.00%
1936	933	47.70%	948	48.47%	75	3.83%
1932	797	35.68%	1,245	55.73%	192	8.59%
1928	1,255	64.33%	663	33.98%	33	1.69%
1924	797	49.87%	319	19.96%	482	30.16%
1920	713	49.65%	393	27.37%	330	22.98%
1916	399	41.05%	475	48.87%	98	10.08%