Best Nursing Homes in South Dakota — 2026 Rankings

South Dakota has 97 CMS-certified skilled nursing facilities. The state averages 15.2 deficiencies per facility, with 1 facilities receiving zero citations in their latest CMS survey cycle. Rankings below are based on official CMS Health Deficiency data.

Top-Ranked Facilities (Fewest Deficiencies)

1. Good Samaritan Society - Wagner — Wagner (0 deficiencies)
2. Estelline Nursing And Care Center — Estelline (1 deficiencies)
3. Good Samaritan Society Howard — Howard (2 deficiencies)
4. Pioneer Memorial Nursing Home — Viborg (3 deficiencies)
5. Walworth County Care Center, Inc — Selby (3 deficiencies)
6. White River Health Care Center — White River (3 deficiencies)
7. Avantara Lake Norden — Lake Norden (4 deficiencies)
8. Avantara Clark City — Clark (5 deficiencies)
9. Avera Brady Health And Rehab — Mitchell (5 deficiencies)
10. Bowdle Nursing Home — Bowdle (5 deficiencies)
11. Clarkson Health Care — Rapid City (5 deficiencies)
12. Eastern Star Home Of South Dakota, Inc — Redfield (5 deficiencies)
13. Faulkton Senior Living — Faulkton (5 deficiencies)
14. Good Samaritan Society Scotland — Scotland (5 deficiencies)
15. Prairie Heights Healthcare — Aberdeen (5 deficiencies)
16. Sd Human Services Center - Geriatric Program — Yankton (5 deficiencies)
17. Wakonda Heritage Manor — Wakonda (5 deficiencies)
18. Weskota Manor Inc — Wessington Springs (5 deficiencies)
19. Avera Sister James Care Center — Yankton (6 deficiencies)
20. Bethesda Home — Webster (6 deficiencies)
21. Avantara Watertown — Watertown (7 deficiencies)
22. Bethesda Home Of Aberdeen — Aberdeen (7 deficiencies)
23. Dow Rummel Village — Sioux Falls (7 deficiencies)
24. Platte Care Center — Platte (7 deficiencies)
25. Tieszen Memorial Home — Marion (7 deficiencies)

Most-Cited Compliance Areas in South Dakota

• Quality of Life and Care Deficiencies — 346 citations
• Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiencies — 230 citations
• Resident Rights Deficiencies — 193 citations
• Nutrition and Dietary Deficiencies — 179 citations
• Infection Control Deficiencies — 147 citations

Compare to Other States

• Browse all 50 state rankings
• South Dakota SNF Scorecard
• South Dakota Compliance Benchmark

Explore POCDesk — Free Nursing Home Compliance Tools

• SNF Scorecard — look up any facility's inspection record
• Nursing Home Compare Tool — side-by-side comparisons
• Skilled Nursing Near Me — find facilities by city & state
• Best Nursing Homes by State — ranked by inspection results
• Survey Tracker — recent CMS survey activity
• F-Tag Reference Guide — every CMS deficiency tag
• Plan of Correction (POC) Complete Guide
• Free AI POC Generator
• Plan of Correction Examples
• CMS Survey Preparation Guide
• SNF Compliance Guides
• What Is Skilled Nursing Care?

Official Sources

POCDesk analyzes official government data. Verify any facility's record or read the underlying regulations at these primary sources:

• Medicare.gov Care Compare — CMS's official nursing home comparison tool
• CMS Provider Data Catalog — the raw nursing home inspection & deficiency datasets
• CMS Nursing Home Certification & Compliance — enforcement policy and the Special Focus Facility program
• 42 CFR Part 483 (eCFR) — the federal requirements of participation behind every F-Tag
• National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center — free advocacy help for residents and families