Custer School District 16-1

Custer School District is located in Custer County in the southwest part of South Dakota. Custer City is 45 minutes from Rapid City, 5 minutes from Crazy Horse Memorial, and 25 minutes from Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. The school district is comprised of the county of Custer, except for the far western portion of the county, and a small portion of Pennington County and is approximately 1200 square miles while the County of Custer is approximately 1550 square miles. Almost fifty percent of the district’s land is federally or state owned which includes the Black Hills National Forest, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, and Bureau of Land Management properties. Custer County’s main industry is tourism. Custer Regional Hospital is the largest employer in the community.

Custer County has two major communities: Custer City and Hermosa. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010 the population of the county was 8,216. The median age in the county is 43, while more than 23%of the population is aged 65 or higher. Custer County is growing in population in the area of retired individuals but not in the area of school-aged children. On the east side of the district, in the Hermosa area in particular, we are seeing increasing development.

The Custer School District has K-12 accreditation from the State of South Dakota.