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Cliff-Zone Families
20,587
Total Wage Suppression
$15.0M
State Avg Cliff Zone
15.7%
The benefits cliff — sometimes called the welfare cliff or cliff effect — occurs when families lose public benefits faster than they can replace them through increased earnings. In South Dakota, an estimated 20,587 families across 66 counties earn between 100–200% of the Federal Poverty Level, where benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, childcare subsidies, and housing assistance phase out. The CLIFF Index measures this exposure at the county level, including peak marginal effective tax rates, wage suppression estimates, and advancement thresholds. Click any county below for the full diagnostic report.
| CountyCounty↕ | PopulationPopulation↕ | Cliff Zone %Cliff Zone %↕ | Families AffectedFamilies↓ | Wage SuppressionWage Gap↕ | Peak METRPeak METR↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnehaha County | 203,289 | 15.9% | 5,026 | $3.7M | 400% |
| Pennington County | 113,512 | 13.5% | 1,964 | $1.4M | 400% |
| Lincoln County | 70,638 | 10.7% | 1,401 | $1.0M | 400% |
| Meade County | 30,546 | 18.2% | 914 | $665K | 400% |
| Brown County | 37,877 | 16.2% | 766 | $558K | 400% |
| Beadle County | 19,309 | 22.9% | 677 | $493K | 400% |
| Brookings County | 35,353 | 17.2% | 633 | $461K | 400% |
| Codington County | 28,767 | 15.0% | 623 | $454K | 400% |
| Davison County | 19,952 | 17.5% | 507 | $369K | 400% |
| Lawrence County | 27,233 | 13.8% | 456 | $332K | 400% |
| Union County | 17,081 | 11.2% | 391 | $285K | 400% |
| Hughes County | 17,664 | 13.9% | 381 | $277K | 400% |
| Todd County | 9,244 | 28.5% | 343 | $250K | 400% |
| Clay County | 15,219 | 18.8% | 337 | $245K | 400% |
| Lake County | 10,972 | 16.9% | 330 | $240K | 400% |
| Oglala Lakota County | 13,491 | 22.1% | 323 | $235K | 400% |
| Roberts County | 10,221 | 23.6% | 312 | $227K | 400% |
| Yankton County | 23,414 | 11.9% | 306 | $223K | 400% |
| Butte County | 10,676 | 17.0% | 301 | $219K | 400% |
| Bon Homme County | 7,044 | 20.8% | 214 | $156K | 400% |
| Turner County | 8,882 | 15.2% | 207 | $151K | 400% |
| Walworth County | 5,271 | 21.7% | 202 | $147K | 400% |
| Custer County | 8,892 | 14.0% | 199 | $145K | 400% |
| Charles Mix County | 9,281 | 15.1% | 177 | $129K | 400% |
| Grant County | 7,563 | 16.9% | 163 | $119K | 400% |
| Hamlin County | 6,373 | 15.7% | 163 | $119K | 400% |
| Spink County | 6,219 | 17.4% | 159 | $116K | 400% |
| Tripp County | 5,611 | 21.1% | 157 | $114K | 400% |
| Hutchinson County | 7,404 | 12.1% | 154 | $112K | 400% |
| Fall River County | 7,258 | 12.5% | 140 | $102K | 400% |
| Brule County | 5,283 | 23.9% | 139 | $101K | 400% |
| McCook County | 5,751 | 12.2% | 124 | $90K | 400% |
| Hanson County | 3,472 | 21.2% | 123 | $90K | 400% |
| Dewey County | 5,205 | 16.4% | 121 | $88K | 400% |
| Day County | 5,437 | 15.9% | 120 | $87K | 400% |
| Moody County | 6,397 | 13.6% | 117 | $85K | 400% |
| Bennett County | 3,345 | 32.0% | 109 | $79K | 400% |
| Kingsbury County | 5,244 | 15.6% | 107 | $78K | 400% |
| Perkins County | 3,001 | 16.5% | 104 | $76K | 400% |
| Corson County | 3,806 | 16.4% | 103 | $75K | 400% |
| Deuel County | 4,328 | 15.3% | 98 | $71K | 400% |
| Hand County | 3,140 | 18.9% | 98 | $71K | 400% |
| Gregory County | 4,016 | 16.2% | 96 | $70K | 400% |
| Edmunds County | 4,048 | 15.8% | 89 | $65K | 400% |
| Jackson County | 2,802 | 26.7% | 86 | $63K | 400% |
| Ziebach County | 2,377 | 21.3% | 83 | $60K | 400% |
| Douglas County | 2,828 | 17.3% | 81 | $59K | 400% |
| Marshall County | 4,344 | 9.4% | 74 | $54K | 400% |
| Clark County | 3,917 | 17.1% | 73 | $53K | 400% |
| Aurora County | 2,642 | 16.9% | 66 | $48K | 400% |
| Miner County | 2,300 | 15.1% | 65 | $47K | 400% |
| Stanley County | 3,015 | 10.7% | 58 | $42K | 400% |
| Potter County | 2,388 | 17.8% | 57 | $41K | 400% |
| Haakon County | 1,722 | 16.6% | 51 | $37K | 400% |
| Lyman County | 3,724 | 18.1% | 50 | $36K | 400% |
| Sanborn County | 2,384 | 14.5% | 50 | $36K | 400% |
| McPherson County | 2,145 | 15.4% | 50 | $36K | 400% |
| Campbell County | 1,593 | 26.2% | 47 | $34K | 400% |
| Buffalo County | 1,808 | 26.6% | 45 | $33K | 400% |
| Jerauld County | 1,772 | 16.4% | 35 | $25K | 400% |
| Hyde County | 1,191 | 19.2% | 32 | $23K | 400% |
| Mellette County | 1,943 | 16.2% | 31 | $23K | 400% |
| Jones County | 1,004 | 23.6% | 30 | $22K | 400% |
| Sully County | 1,526 | 10.4% | 21 | $15K | 400% |
| Faulk County | 2,126 | 7.7% | 17 | $12K | 400% |
| Harding County | 1,148 | 12.3% | 11 | $8K | 400% |
66 of 66 counties shown. Click any county for full diagnostic.