Economy

Few other states depend as heavily on farming as does South Dakota, where agriculture has been an economic mainstay since the founding of the state. Even the cities are indirectly dependent on farming, for they serve primarily as trade centers for rural areas and as processing centers for farm products. But today, service industries contribute the most to South Dakota's economy. Sioux Falls is an important financial center. Tourism is also a significant economic activity. Several million visitors are attracted to South Dakota each year, primarily to the Black Hills and the Badlands.

Service industries are concentrated in the state's largest cities. Finance, insurance, and real estate form South Dakota's leading service industry group. Ranking second is community, business, and personal services. This group consists of a variety of businesses, including private health care, law firms, and motels. Two of the largest Indian reservations in the United States are in South Dakota.

Virtually the entire state is classed as farmland, which includes crop and grazing land. In general, the western part is used largely for the grazing of livestock, mainly because of limited moisture and rougher terrain. The eastern part combines the raising of livestock with the growing of crops, for it contains almost all the arable land.

Approximately 60 per cent of all farm income is derived from livestock, mainly beef cattle, hogs, lambs, and sheep. Many beef cattle are raised on the rangeland of the west. Most of the feedlots, in which cattle are fattened for market, are in the east. South Dakota is also a leader in wool prouction.

Corn, wheat, and soybeans are the most valuable and widely grown crops. Much of the corn and virtually all the hay are used primarily for feeding livestock. Wheat is grown in most of the state. Other important crops grown in South Dakota are oats and flax.

Computer and electronic products and processed foods are South Dakota's leading type of manufactured products. Meat processing and packing is the most important food-processing industry in South Dakota. Also significant are printing and publishing and the making of machinery, fabricated metal products, wood products, and cement. The chief manufacturing center is Sioux Falls. Other centers include Rapid City, Mitchell, Aberdeen, and Watertown.

South Dakota's most important mined products include granite, cement, crushed stone, sand and gravel, petroleum, and natural gas. Until the Homestake mine at Lead closed in 2001, South Dakota had been one of the largest gold-producing states in the United States.

South Dakota's roads and highways in most areas are laid out in a roughly rectangular pattern. One Interstate highway (I–29) runs north-south through the eastern part of the state; another (I–90), east-west through the south.

The railway network is used exclusively for freight. Sioux Falls has the largest airport in South Dakota.