VISUALIZED AMERICAN
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
STATE-BY-STATE DATA
VISUALIZED AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS · SD

South Dakota Public Schools

The canvas comes first: every public school district in South Dakota, drawn from the federal boundary files. The data layers — enrollment change, funding, teachers, achievement — are built on top of this map, Missouri-style, in phases.

THE DISTRICT MAP

School district boundaries

Hover any district for its name. Boundaries are the 2024–25 school-year files from NCES EDGE / U.S. Census TIGER.

MAP IN PREPARATION
The South Dakota district boundary file hasn’t been generated yet.
Run scripts/make_boundaries.sh to rebuild boundaries/south-dakota.geojson, then redeploy.
Source: NCES EDGE Composite School District Boundaries, 2024–25 (via U.S. Census TIGER/Line). Unified school districts.

148 districts are drawn on this map.

TEACHER PAY

What South Dakota pays its teachers

A first look, from the National Education Association’s 2024–25 salary benchmarks. These are South Dakota statewide averages of district salary schedules; a district-by-district map is the next layer (see the note below).

$47,196
Average starting teacher salary — bachelor’s degree, no experience.
NEA 2024–25 Benchmark Report
111
of South Dakota’s 164 school districts had salary data reported (67.7%).
NEA 2024–25 Benchmark Report
Source: National Education Association, 2024–2025 Teacher Salary Benchmark Report (April 2026), state tables ST-1 and ST-4. Figures are unweighted averages of district salary schedules; “starting” = bachelor’s degree with no experience, “top of schedule” = the highest step and lane. NEA reported no average top-of-schedule salary for South Dakota this cycle. For reference, the national average starting salary was $48,112.
The district map is the next layer. A district-by-district salary map for South Dakota is being built from federal finance data — NCES teacher counts and the U.S. Census F-33 school-finance survey — to show an average salary per district (a derived measure, and labeled as one). Until it lands, this page carries the verified statewide figures above. For the fully built version of this theme, see the Missouri flagship’s Teacher Pay page.
COMING NEXT

The Missouri playbook, applied to South Dakota

Each theme below becomes a page of interactive maps as South Dakota is built out. The national data backbone (NCES, Census F-33, SEDA, SAIPE) covers every theme; state-specific sources add depth.

ENROLLMENT & DEMOGRAPHICS
Who the schools serve
District-by-district enrollment change, student diversity, urban-to-rural patterns.
In development
FUNDING & FINANCE
What communities can raise
Per-pupil spending, local tax base, and the state's own funding formula pressure points.
In development
TEACHERS & ACHIEVEMENT
Classrooms and outcomes
Teacher workforce and pay, achievement vs. poverty, and pandemic recovery from SEDA.
In development
SD
South Dakota Department of Education
South Dakota’s state education agency — the primary source for state-specific district data as this page is built out.