Conklin Street

Where Land Is Cheap, Labor Is Scarce, and Neighbors Are Few

McPherson County sits in north-central South Dakota, hard against the North Dakota border, in a stretch of the Great Plains where the sky genuinely feels bigger than anywhere else. With just 2 people per square mile and a total population of 2,278, this is one of the most sparsely inhabited counties in the continental United States. The housing market here doesn't resemble anything in the national conversation about affordability — it operates by entirely different rules.

Key Statistics

Stat	Value	Context
Median Home Value	$78,400	75% below the national median of $320,000
Homeownership Rate	81.0%	well above national average of ~65%
Vacancy Rate	28.1%	nearly 3x the national norm of ~10%
Unemployment Rate	0.6%	essentially zero — among the lowest measurable

A Housing Market Unlike Any Other

At $78,400, the median home here costs roughly what a down payment costs in Denver or Minneapolis. The price-to-income ratio sits at a remarkable 1.3x — against a national benchmark of 4x — making McPherson County one of the most technically affordable places to own property in America. And own it people do: 81% of households are owner-occupied, with a median rent of just $580 and a rent burden rate of 8.2%, a fraction of the 30% threshold that defines housing stress. No one here is being priced out.

But the vacancy rate tells a more complicated story. Nearly 28% of housing units sit empty — a figure that reflects not a building boom gone wrong, but a slow, generational outmigration from agricultural communities across the Northern Plains. Leola, the county seat, has watched its population decline for decades as farm consolidation reduced the need for rural labor. Those empty homes aren't investment properties awaiting tenants. Many are former farmsteads or small-town houses left behind by families who moved to Aberdeen, Sioux Falls, or further afield.

The Arithmetic of Aging

With a median age of nearly 49 and nearly 31% of residents aged 65 or older, McPherson County is aging faster than South Dakota as a whole — and South Dakota is already older than the national average. The child poverty rate is a genuinely low 5.6%, but there simply aren't many children: residents under 18 make up just 21% of the population. This demographic tilt shapes everything from school enrollment figures to long-term housing demand.

The 0.6% unemployment rate sounds extraordinary until you factor in a labor force participation rate of just 59.8% — many residents are retired, farming family land, or outside the conventional labor market entirely. The economy here is agricultural at its core, with the Gini coefficient of 0.517 suggesting meaningful income inequality, likely reflecting the gap between large landowners and hourly farm workers.

The 14.1% limited English figure is notable for a county this size and likely reflects the presence of seasonal or permanent agricultural workers — a quiet but significant demographic layer in this corner of the Plains.

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FAQs

What makes McPherson County, South Dakota unique? McPherson County combines near-perfect housing affordability with one of the most severe rural vacancy crises in the country. You can buy a home for under $80,000 with almost no competition — but the reason land and homes are cheap is that the region has been losing population for half a century, driven by farm mechanization and the long decline of small-town agricultural economies.

Is McPherson County a good place to buy cheap land or property? For buyers seeking extreme affordability and space, the numbers are compelling on paper. But prospective buyers should weigh the thin resale market, limited services, aging infrastructure, and the county's persistent outmigration trend. Property here is inexpensive because demand is genuinely low — not because it's undiscovered.

Why is the vacancy rate so high in rural South Dakota counties like McPherson? Decades of farm consolidation meant fewer families needed to live on or near the land. As farms grew larger and required less manual labor, small towns lost their economic reason to exist. Schools closed, businesses shuttered, and housing was simply abandoned rather than sold, creating vacancy rates that have no equivalent in urban or suburban markets.