Geographic Information System (GIS)
300 Sixth Street Rapid City, SD 57701
Phone: (605) 716-3672 Fax (605) 394-6621
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 7:30a.m. - 5:00p.m.
Email: gis2@rcgov.org

Geography

Pennington County is located in western South Dakota, with an area of about 2770 square miles (which is roughly 2.5 times the size of the state of Rhode Island). The eastern two-thirds of the County consist of praire, where ranching and dry farming predominate. The western third is part of the Black Hills, with elevations ranging from around 3000 feet above sea level to 7,242 feet at Harney Peak, the highest point in South Dakota. The Hills are mainly forested. Most of the area is part of the Black Hills National Forest. The County also contains parts of the Badlands National Park, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, Sage Creek Wilderness Area, and the Black Elk Wilderness Area. Pennington County is the home of Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. 

Rapid City, South Dakota is situated on northeastern side of the Black Hills. It is the State's second largest city, with a 2010 census population of 67.956, covering an area of about 55 square miles. 

Listed below are the 2010 census population counts for selected places.

For additional demographic information, click on the "American Factfinder" at the U.S. Census Bureau home page. You can also use our interactive census map to get the population and housing totals by census block, which is available using the RapidMap site.  To go to the census blocks site, choose the "Census Blocks" map service from the drop down menu on the upper right of the RapidMap interface.