Student Population at South Dakota State

By race/ethnicity, 9,749 White, 157 Black, and 158 Asian students out of a total of 12,056 are attending at South Dakota State University. Comprehensive enrollment statistic data by race/ethnicity is shown in the chart below (academic year 2024-2025 data).

South Dakota State University is somewhat diverse with a diversity index of 34.3% measured by Census Bureau Diversity Index. The institution has limited racial and ethnic diversity in its student population.

By age, South Dakota State has 946 students under 18 years old and 4 students over 65 years old. There are 10,055 students under 25 years old, and 1,442 students over 25 years old out of 11,498 total students.

In undergraduate programs, 946 students are younger than 18 and 2 students are older than 65. South Dakota State has 9,549 undergraduate students aged under 25 and 627 students aged 25 and over.

It has 506 graduate students aged under 25 and 815 students aged 25 and over.

*The age distribution is based on 2023-2024 enrollment data.

Distance learning, also called online education, is very attractive to students, especially those who want to continue education and work in the field. At South Dakota State University, 2,300 students are enrolled exclusively in online courses and 4,028 students are enrolled in some online courses.

1,977 students who live in South Dakota or the jurisdiction in which the school is located are enrolled exclusively in online courses and 323 students live in another State or outside of the United States.