Michael Klinski
Michael Klinski
investigative reporter
michael.klinski@sdnewswatch.org

Yes.

Ziebach County doesn’t have a retailer that can accept food stamps and has the sixth-highest percentage of residents who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in the nation at 43.5%. 

Two other counties are in the top 10: Todd County (third, at 49.3%) and Oglala Lakota County (eighth, at 43%). All three are home to Native American reservations.

Five other counties have only one SNAP-eligible retailer: Campbell, Hanson, Harding, Sanborn and Sully, while seven have two retailers. The lack of retailers can lead to people having to drive longer distances to get SNAP-eligible items.

Residents on the west side of Ziebach County can drive to Meade and Perkins counties. And residents on the east and north can go to Dewey county, where some SNAP-eligible retailers are near county lines.

Ziebach County covers the western part of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. Residents have a median income of $26,211. 

This fact brief responds to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Center for American Progress, SNAP study

USDA, SNAP retailer locator 

Data Commons, Dewey County


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This story was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit organization. Read more stories and donate at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email to get stories when they're published. Contact Michael Klinski at michael.klinski@sdnewswatch.org.