More than 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19 – more than the total number of Americans killed in World War I and World War II combined.

In the Rapid City metropolitan area, located in South Dakota, a total of 438 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 301 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 310 deaths have been attributed to the virus per 100,000 people.

Though COVID-19 deaths per capita in the metro area are closely in line with comparable national rate, one part of the metro area stands out as having a higher rate than the rest.

The broader Rapid City metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, Pennington County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Pennington County stands at 318 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Rapid City metro area, Pennington County ranks among the middle 50% of all U.S. counties or county equivalents by COVID-19 death rate per capita.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of July 19, 2022.

These are all the counties in South Dakota where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).

Rank	Geography	Deaths per 100,000 people	Total deaths	Confirmed cases per 100,000 people	Total confirmed cases
1	Pennington County, SD	318	348	31,753	34,704
2	Custer County, SD	303	26	25,662	2,200
3	Meade County, SD	233	64	26,987	7,401

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