Waubay, SD population, income and ZIP codes

Waubay city is a very small community in South Dakota, with 425 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #169 of 485 ranked by population — larger than 65% of them. The median age here is 51.7 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Waubay city earn a median of $36,635 a year, 53.4% below the national figure of $78,538 and 44% below the $65,500 median for the 79 South Dakota cities we cover. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 9.2% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Waubay city is valued at $105,000, 65.4% below the national figure and 46% below the $192,800 peer median, while median gross rent runs $583 a month, 58.5% below the national figure, or roughly $6,996 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 19.1% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 2.9×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 66.3% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

A median age of 51.7 puts Waubay city well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages. With 425 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Waubay city against its county rather than against national figures.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.