Union County, South Dakota

Union County is a located in the  of. It is part of the // /. As of the, the population is 12,584. Its is. Originally named Cole County, the named was changed to Union because of Civil War sentiment.

 rated Union County 2nd in the 2006 "Best Place to Live" in the U.S., because "its schools are good, its towns neat and its people friendly."

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,210 (467 ). 1,192 km² (460 sq mi) of it is land and 17 km² (7 sq mi) of it (1.43%) is water.

The is 99127.

Townships
The county is divided into twelve : Alcester, Big Sioux, Big Springs, Brule, Civil Bend, Elk Point,, Jefferson, Prairie, Sioux Valley, Spink, Virginia, and one area of unorganized territory: Richland.

Adjacent Counties

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Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 12,584 people, 4,927 households, and 3,517 families residing in the county. The was 11/km² (27/sq mi). There were 5,345 housing units at an average density of 4/km² (12/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 96.85%, 1.34% , 0.37% , 0.01% , 0.33% or , 0.24% from , and 0.87% from two or more races. 1.26% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 4,927 households out of which 34.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.00% were living together, 6.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.60% were non-families. 24.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the county, the population was spread out with 27.00% under the age of 18, 7.30% from 18 to 24, 28.40% from 25 to 44, 23.70% from 45 to 64, and 13.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 99.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.30 males.