Tea, SD Political Map | Democrat & Republican Areas in Tea

By the BestNeighborhood data science team. Last updated May 2026.

Tea leans heavily Republican by roughly 40 points: about 30% of voters vote Democratic and 70% Republican.

 

About 84% of adults in Tea typically vote, above the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Tea, ~25% vote Democratic, ~59% Republican, and ~16% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.

How Tea compares

Among cities within 25 miles, Tea leans more Republican than 4 of 39 neighbors.

Tea runs about 11 points more Republican than South Dakota as a whole.

Politics vary noticeably by neighborhood within Tea. The northeast side is the most Republican-leaning (R+53) and the west side is the least Republican-leaning (R+38), a spread of about 15 points.

Why Tea leans the way it does

This analysis examined 14,881 data points per city to find what predicts political lean and turnout. The items below are a few correlations that stood out for Tea, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.

Tea votes Republican even though it is densely developed (about 48%, far above the South Dakota average of 9%). State and regional patterns outweigh the Democratic lean that density usually predicts here. A high family-household share predicts Republican voting, and about 85% of households in Tea are family households, above 97% of cities.

High-school completion, uninsured rate, and voter turnout

Places that combine high-school-completion-heavy adults and a low uninsured rate tend to turn out at a higher rate, as Tea, SD does.

Why turnout in Tea looks the way it does

Areas with strong routine healthcare access turn out at higher rates. Tea is in the top quarter nationally for routine-care measures such as insurance coverage, preventive screenings, and dental visits. The dental-visit rate here is about 74%, about 14 points above the U.S. average of 60%. High high-school completion lines up with higher turnout, and about 98% of adults in Tea have completed high school, above 96% of cities. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.

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Sources and methodology

Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from South Dakota Secretary of State, Elections, distributed by the Voting and Election Science Team. Demographic inputs come from the U.S. Census Bureau (ACS 5-year estimates and the 2020 Decennial Census). Health and environmental inputs come from the CDC (PLACES and the Environmental Justice Index). Land cover comes from the USGS and EPA. Election-day and lead-up weather come from PRISM 4km daily grids and the NOAA Global Historical Climatology Network. Mail-voting and election-administration patterns come from the MIT Election Lab's Survey of the Performance of American Elections. Block-group crime detail comes from CrimeGrade. Internet data and modeling support provided by ISPreports.org.

Modeling and analysis by the BestNeighborhood data science team. Full methodology and findings: political spectrum map.

Methodology reviewed by the BestNeighborhood data team. Last updated May 2026.