South Dakota

#3 of 45 for camping

Better than 96% of graded states · overall grade A- — among the best in the country.

Graded on 6,239 written reviews from South Dakota - no star ratings, just what people wrote.

The breakdown

Each topic is graded against how every other state does on it - A is among the best, C about average, F among the worst. Welcoming is graded by our Green Book score.

What campers praised

What campers warned about

Praised by: 32.1%
Warned by: 4.1%
Rank: Better than 80% of graded states
Confidence: Moderate confidence

Net sentiment +0.281 (±0.013, 95% CI) from 6,239 written reviews, 51% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.

What campers praised

What campers warned about

Praised by: 28.9%
Warned by: 3.1%
Rank: Better than 82% of graded states
Confidence: Moderate confidence

Net sentiment +0.259 (±0.012, 95% CI) from 6,239 written reviews, 51% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.

What campers praised

What campers warned about

Praised by: 24.5%
Warned by: 9.5%
Rank: Better than 75% of graded states
Confidence: Moderate confidence

Net sentiment +0.150 (±0.013, 95% CI) from 6,239 written reviews, 51% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.

Graded by our Green Book community score (88/100) — it weighs discrimination, hostility and safety, not just overall sentiment. The tags below are what campers actually said.

What campers praised

What campers warned about

Praised by: 1.8%
Warned by: 0.1%
Rank: Better than 41% of graded states
Confidence: High confidence

Net sentiment +0.018 (±0.003, 95% CI) from 6,239 written reviews, 51% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.

What campers praised

What campers warned about

Praised by: 0.8%
Warned by: 1.2%
Rank: Better than 59% of graded states
Confidence: High confidence

Net sentiment -0.004 (±0.003, 95% CI) from 6,239 written reviews, 51% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.

What campers praised

What campers warned about

Praised by: 0.8%
Warned by: 1.8%
Rank: Better than 57% of graded states
Confidence: High confidence

Net sentiment -0.010 (±0.004, 95% CI) from 6,239 written reviews, 51% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.

We read every written review of a campground in South Dakota and used AI to label what each camper praised or complained about, across 14 topics. A topic’s score is the share who praised it minus the share who complained. Because campers gush about scenery but only mention bugs when bitten, each topic is graded relative to how every other state does on it — so an A means “among the best for this topic,” a C “about average,” on the same curve for every topic. Switch to Raw numbers for the actual share who praised vs. warned.

Two guardrails keep it honest: a topic campers were net-positive about never grades below a C− (a well-liked topic can’t “fail”), and an F is reserved for the rare topic that’s both clearly complained-about and a bottom outlier. The overall grade blends every topic and is graded the same way — relative to every other state, with the same guardrails — so an A is among the best overall, a C about average; its rank separates close states.

Only states with at least 1,500 reviews are graded, and every topic carries a 95% confidence interval from its sample size.

Topic weights

Scenery16%
Cleanliness13%
Campsites13%
Facilities12%
Staff & hosts10%
Things to do9%
Crowds & noise8%
Getting there5%
Bugs & weather3%
Value3%
Booking2%
Rules & policies2%
Safety2%
Belonging1%

Methodology v5-hybrid-per-topic | 45 states graded | updated July 2026.

Best South Dakota campgrounds by overall grade

Weight what matters to you →

Ranked by the default topic weighting. Set your own on the report-card hub and this list re-ranks.

Finding the best matches…

See every graded state

What this grade measures

The trip, not the view

Across 688,170 camper reviews, the scenery barely predicts whether people actually enjoy a place. What sends newcomers home are the un-photographable parts — the three Bs: bathrooms, booking, and belonging. So we grade every place on those, not the postcard.

B+

Bathrooms

C+

Booking

A-

Belonging

How South Dakota scores on the three things that decide a newcomer’s trip.

Why the view won’t make your trip →Grade it on what you care about