Rapid City, South Dakota

Rapid City population, 2020 to 2024

Rapid City added 4,951 residents from July 2020 to July 2024, a change of +6.6%. In the latest year it moved by +518. Among 18 South Dakota places of 5,000 or more, that growth ranks 6th; the median place changed by +2.7%. The median place of 5,000+ in South Dakota has 13,845 people, so Rapid City is 5.8 times that size.

Rapid City covers 55.98 square miles of land and 0.06 of water, for 1,427 people per square mile of land. The median South Dakota place of 5,000+ has 1,459, so Rapid City is close to the typical town.

What county Rapid City is in

All of Rapid City's residents live in Pennington County, which had 115,979 residents in 2024. Rapid City holds 68.9% of the county's population. The shaded shape is on the map above; dots mark the eight nearest places.

ZIP codes in Rapid City

3 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) overlap Rapid City by at least 10% of the ZCTA's or the city's land: 57701, 57702, 57703. ZCTAs are Census approximations of USPS ZIP code delivery areas. The list comes from the 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file, so a city that annexed land after 2020 may reach into ZIP codes not listed here.

Where Rapid City is

The Census internal point of Rapid City is at 44.071100, -103.217900. Pierre, the capital, is 143.7 miles E in a straight line. The nearest larger place is Fort Collins, CO (170,924 people), 261.0 miles away.

Daylight in Rapid City

At 44.07° N, Rapid City gets about 15 h 30 min of daylight around the June solstice and 8 h 53 min around the December solstice, a swing of 6 h 37 min. Figures are sunrise to sunset from the SunCalc model for June 21 and December 21, 2026.

Places near Rapid City

The eight nearest incorporated places of 1,000+ in South Dakota, measured between internal points. The closest is Box Elder, 7.3 miles away, with 13,887 people.