Minnehaha County, South Dakota

Minnehaha County is a located in the  of. As of the Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the population was 163,281, making it the most populous county in South Dakota. Its is. The county received its name from the Indian word for -"where the water laughs" or "laughing water."

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,107 (814 ). 2,097 km² (810 sq mi) of it is land and 10 km² (4 sq mi) of it (0.49%) is water.

Townships
The county is divided into twenty-four : Brandon, Benton, Buffalo, Burk, Clear Lake, Dell Rapids, Edison, Grand Meadow, Hartford, Highland, Humboldt, Logan, Lyons, Mapleton, Palisade, Red Rock, Sioux Falls, Split Rock, Sverdrup, Taopi, Valley Springs, Wall Lake, Wayne, Wellington.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 148,281 people, 57,996 households, and 37,581 families residing in the county. The was 71/km² (183/sq mi). There were 60,237 housing units at an average density of 29/km² (74/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 93.03%, 1.51% or , 1.85% , 1.01% , 0.05% , 1.04% from , and 1.51% from two or more races. 2.15% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 57,996 households out of which 33.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.80% were living together, 9.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.20% were non-families. 27.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the county, the population was spread out with 26.20% under the age of 18, 10.80% from 18 to 24, 32.00% from 25 to 44, 20.00% from 45 to 64, and 11.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 98.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.40 males.