Mellette County, South Dakota

Mellette County is a located in the  of. As of, the population is 2,083. Its is. The county was named after (June 25, 1842 – May 25, 1896) who was the last Governor of the  and was the first Governor of the state of South Dakota.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 3,392 (1,310 ). 3,384 km² (1,306 sq mi) of it is land and 8 km² (3 sq mi) of it (0.25%) is water.

Townships
The county is divided into sixteen townships: Bad Nation, Blackpipe, Butte, Cody, Fairview, Mosher, New Surprise Valley, Norris, Prospect, Red Fish, Ring Thunder, Riverside, Rocky Ford, Rosebud, Running Bird, and Surprise Valley; and two areas of unorganized territory: Cedarbutte and Central Mellette.

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 83.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:SD 44.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:SD 53.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:SD 63.svg|20px]]

Adjacent counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - south
 * - west

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 2,083 people, 694 households, and 498 families residing in the county. The was 1/km² (2/sq mi). There were 824 housing units at an average density of 0/km² (1/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 44.74%, 52.42% , 0.10% , 0.24% from , and 2.50% from two or more races. 1.68% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 694 households out of which 38.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.80% were living together, 16.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.10% were non-families. 24.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.94 and the average family size was 3.49.

In the county, the population was spread out with 35.30% under the age of 18, 7.50% from 18 to 24, 24.60% from 25 to 44, 19.40% from 45 to 64, and 13.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 101.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.60 males.