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Flag of South Dakota

The flag of South Dakota is a sky-blue field with the state seal in the center, ringed by a serrated gold sun. "South Dakota" arcs in gold above it and "The Mount Rushmore State" below. The design dates from 1963, when the state merged the two sides of its original 1909 flag onto one face, and the nickname replaced "The Sunshine State" in 1992.

Verified October 23, 2026 against the state's law

Flag of South Dakota
Flag of South Dakota. Image: xrmap, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What the flag shows

  • The field. Sky blue, one and two-thirds times as long as it is wide.
  • The seal. In the center, four-ninths of the flag’s width across, outlined in dark blue. It shows a smelter and mine buildings among hills, a farmer plowing behind a team of horses with cattle and a cornfield, and a steamboat on a river between them, under the motto “Under God the People Rule.”
  • The sun. A gold serrated sun around the seal, five-ninths of the flag’s width at its widest, a holdover from the blazing sun of the 1909 flag.
  • The words. “South Dakota” arched in gold above the sun and “The Mount Rushmore State” below it.
  • The fringe. Flags for indoor and display use carry gold fringe on the three sides away from the staff; outdoor flags may omit it.

The law gives no symbolic meaning to the colors or the sun.

The 1909 flag

South Dakota’s first official flag was adopted in 1909, pushed by Senator Ernest May of Deadwood at the urging of Seth Bullock. Designed by Ida M. Anding, later Ida Anding McNeil, it had a gold blazing sun on a blue field with “South Dakota” above and “The Sunshine State” below, and the Great Seal in dark blue on the other side. Only two were bought at first; one is kept by the State Archives and the other is on display in the secretary of state’s office.

One side instead of two

A flag with different designs on each side was costly to make, and few were produced. In 1963 House Bill 503, sponsored by Representative William Sahr of Hughes County, merged the seal and the sun onto a single face, and it was approved on March 11, 1963.

From sunshine to Rushmore

In 1992 a bill sponsored by Representative Gordon Pederson of Pennington County replaced “The Sunshine State” on the flag with “The Mount Rushmore State,” matching the newly official nickname.

A redesign rejected

In 2024 Senate Bill 113, which would have set up a commission to study a new flag design, was killed 5 to 3 in the Senate State Affairs Committee on January 29, so the 1963 and 1992 design remains in use.

The flag pledge

South Dakota has an official pledge to its flag: “I pledge loyalty and support to the flag and State of South Dakota, land of sunshine, land of infinite variety.” By law it may not replace or be recited before the Pledge of Allegiance to the US flag.

Questions about the South Dakota state flag

What is on the South Dakota flag?
The state seal, inside a serrated gold sun, on a sky-blue field, with "South Dakota" above and "The Mount Rushmore State" below.
Who designed the South Dakota flag?
Ida M. Anding, later Ida Anding McNeil, a stenographer and legislative librarian at the State Historical Society, designed the original 1909 blazing-sun flag. The single-sided version dates from 1963.
Why did the South Dakota flag say "The Sunshine State"?
That was the nickname on the flag from 1909 until 1992, when the Legislature replaced it with the new official nickname, "The Mount Rushmore State."
Does South Dakota have a flag pledge?
'Yes: "I pledge loyalty and support to the flag and State of South Dakota, land of sunshine, land of infinite variety." By law it may not replace or be recited before the Pledge of Allegiance.'

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