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Plumber shortage in South Dakota: the licensed-supply numbers

Everyone quotes the shortage. Here is the count South Dakota actually has, by skill level and per resident, updated every night.

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As of October 6, 2026, South Dakota carries 2,691 licensed plumbers on its state register, or 292.7 per 100,000 residents.

2,691
licensed plumbers
292.7
per 100k residents
#9
density rank of 32
1.2
apprentice : journeyman

The apprentice-to-journeyman pipeline behind them runs at 1.2 in South Dakota, against 0.555 nationally, a read on whether the plumbers supply is being replenished.

What level they hold

Every plumber license on the South Dakota register, normalized to one ladder.

TierLicensedShare
Apprentice1,10241%
Journeyman92034%
Contractor / business66925%

How this compares to nearby states

States nearest South Dakota on licensed plumbers per capita.

StateLicensed plumbersPer 100k
South Dakota2,691292.7
Massachusetts25,314361.6
New Hampshire4,979355.1
West Virginia5,612317.0
Arkansas8,924290.9
Minnesota15,091263.0
Iowa7,528234.7
Counts, not a capacity opinion. We publish the licensed supply and the pipeline ratio; whether a market can absorb a given project is a judgment for the reader, not a claim we make.

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Common questions

Is there a plumbers shortage in South Dakota?
Reporting on the shortage rarely states how many are actually licensed. South Dakota carries 2,691 licensed plumbers on its register as of October 6, 2026, or 292.7 per 100,000 residents. Readers can weigh that supply against demand directly.
How many licensed plumbers does South Dakota have?
2,691 on the state register as of October 6, 2026.
Where does the shortage narrative come from?
Industry analyses project national shortfalls of hundreds of thousands of skilled-trades workers against data-center and electrification demand. Those are demand-side estimates; the figure here is the licensed supply on the register today.

Related pages

Count
How many plumbers in South DakotaMarket
South Dakota licensed trades supplyCorridor
Electricians and the data-center buildout
This number changes tonight.

This page is a free snapshot of South Dakota. Track the same market every night and see which contractors just got licensed, added a trade, or dropped off, and pull the full record, with contact details where available, on any of them. Get the weekly intelligence email on the markets you follow. ATI is in private beta; apply for access.

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