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Tax Sale Atlas

McCook County, SD tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the McCook County, SD tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. South Dakota sells tax lien certificates paying up to 10%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus what the county publishes on Oct 6, 2026.

How tax lien and tax deed sales work in McCook County, seat of Salem: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how South Dakota tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next tax deed sale
No fixed date.
Format
In person
Registration
No bidder registration.
County office
605-425-2721
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Oct 6, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page
Look up a sale detail

McCook County Commission, with the Auditor; the Treasurer and State's Attorney prepare the tax deed proceeding. In person. annual

Record quality: medium. Last verified: 2026-10-06.

SDCL 10-25-39.1, County acquisition of real property, sale of property, notice of sale required, South Dakota Legislature (source accessed 2026-10-06)

Recorded reference information. Verify current sale conditions with the county. Read the full sale details.

Link to this detail

How McCook County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
McCook County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
McCook County follows the single statewide sale date.
Registration
There is no online bidder portal and no county registration form to file.
Next expected
on the third Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
McCook County follows the single statewide sale date. SDCL 10-23-7 directs the treasurer to offer tax certificates at public sale at the courthouse on the third Monday of December each year, between nine a.m. and four p.m., and lets the treasurer adjourn the sale from day to day until every certificate has been offered. The county posts no separate sale calendar, so confirm the current year's arrangements with the Treasurer's office in Salem at 605-425-2721.
Registration and deposit

There is no online bidder portal and no county registration form to file. Bidding happens in person at the courthouse in Salem on the sale date, and the Treasurer settles with the winning bidder directly. The Treasurer's office takes cash, checks, money orders, cashier's checks and major credit cards, with fees on cards. Because South Dakota law keeps every certificate with the county unless its commissioners have voted otherwise, call the Treasurer at 605-425-2721 before the sale to confirm whether certificates will be offered to outside bidders.

Sale format and venue
Bidding sets the interest rate, not the price. Under SDCL 10-23-8 a bidder offers the full amount of taxes, interest and costs due and states the lowest annual interest rate at which the bidder will carry the taxes, and the lowest rate stated is the best bid. The statute caps a valid bid at ten percent per year and sets no minimum. The county commission may set a fee of up to fifty dollars that is deducted from the holder's proceeds when a certificate is redeemed, and that fee is never charged to the property owner. Certificates that draw no bidder are sold afterward at private sale in the Treasurer's office under SDCL 10-23-12. Both routes sit under SDCL 10-23-28.1, which bars a county from selling any tax certificate unless the board of county commissioners adopts a resolution waiving that prohibition, and McCook County publishes no such resolution. The county's own record points the same way: the state audit presented to the commission on September 23, 2025 found that no tax certificates were created for tax year 2020 pay 2021 and that the tax deed process had not been started after three years, and at the December 9, 2025 meeting a commissioner noted the county has been cited in several past audits for not carrying out tax deed procedures. Treat outside participation in the December sale as unconfirmed until the Treasurer says otherwise.
Source: SDCL 10-23-7, Time and place of annual sale, adjournment from day to day, South Dakota Legislature· Verified Oct 6, 2026

Tax deed sale

In person
Run by
McCook County Commission, with the Auditor; the Treasurer and State's Attorney prepare the tax deed proceeding
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
No fixed date.
Registration
No bidder registration.
When it runs
No fixed date. SDCL 10-25-39.1 requires a county that takes property by tax deed to declare it surplus and sell it under chapter 6-13 within one year of the deed, after publishing notice at least twice with the first notice at least thirty days before the sale. McCook County has held these sales during regular commission meetings at the courthouse in Salem: an October 27, 2020 sale at 11:00 a.m. offered eight parcels in Salem, Spencer, Canistota and Pearl Township, and a June 22, 2021 sale of a Canistota lot took bids due by 11:45 a.m. In May 2026 the Treasurer reported that information on 18 to 19 parcels had gone to the Register of Deeds for the tax deed process, expected to be done by September or October, so watch the commission agendas and The Special for sale notices.
Registration and deposit

No bidder registration. Under SDCL 6-13-5 sealed bids are filed with the county's fiscal officer and opened at a commission meeting at the time stated in the notice; at the June 2021 sale a bid not received on time was not considered. The board may reject all bids, and if it accepts one it must be the highest. Confirm the bid form and payment terms with the Auditor's office at 605-425-2791.

Sale format and venue
This is a sale of the property itself, not of a certificate. At the 2020 sale accepted bids ranged from $150 to $9,000, and two parcels drew no bids. The county does not deliver clear title: at the August 25, 2026 meeting the State's Attorney told a buyer from the 2020 sale that a county does not convey clean title through the tax deed process and that a quiet title action is the landowner's responsibility, not the county's. Budget for a quiet title action before resale or financing.
Source: SDCL 10-25-39.1, County acquisition of real property, sale of property, notice of sale required, South Dakota Legislature· Verified Oct 6, 2026

McCook County tax sale list and auction calendar

For McCook County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.

  1. Confirm the advertised parcel list

    McCook County publishes no tax sale list online. The McCook County Commission advertises the parcels ahead of the sale rather than posting them, so the list reaches bidders through the county legal newspaper and the office itself. Call 605-425-2721 to ask for the current advertisement.

  2. Register to bid

    No bidder registration. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    No fixed date. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the McCook County Commission before you go.

  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use the McCook County Commission as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in McCook County

  1. Confirm the parcel list before pricing

    There is no online list to price against. McCook County advertises the parcels before the sale rather than posting them, so get the advertisement from the office on 605-425-2721 and price from the parcel numbers it carries.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    No bidder registration. Under SDCL 6-13-5 sealed bids are filed with the county's fiscal officer and opened at a commission meeting at the time stated in the notice; at the June 2021 sale a bid not received on time was not considered. The board may reject all bids, and if it accepts one it must be the highest. Confirm the bid form and payment terms with the Auditor's office at 605-425-2791.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the South Dakota due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in South Dakota before you price the title work.

  4. Set a walk-away number

    Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.

Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases

Three routes exist and each runs through a county office. A certificate that stayed unsold for want of bidders must be sold at private sale at the treasurer's office to any person who pays the taxes, penalty and costs due. A person may also buy the county's interest in a certificate the treasurer bid off, by paying the taxes, penalty, interest and costs of sale and transfer plus every unpaid and subsequent tax, after which the treasurer assigns the certificate and the buyer holds the rights of an original purchaser. Both routes are closed in a county whose commissioners have not waived SDCL 10-23-28.1. Separately, tax deed property the county offered that drew no bid may be sold at private sale within twelve months for not less than ninety percent of the appraised value, without further publication or appraisal. Ask the county treasurer about certificates and the county auditor about unsold deeded parcels.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what South Dakota calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

McCook County Treasurer

605-425-2721

130 W Essex Ave, PO Box 278, Salem, SD 57058

Official website

County notes

  • The certificate sale is held in person at the McCook County Courthouse, 130 West Essex Avenue in Salem, and there is no online auction platform for it. SDCL 10-23-7 fixes the date as the third Monday of December, between nine a.m. and four p.m., and lets the treasurer adjourn from day to day until every certificate has been offered. Treasurer office hours for property taxes are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
  • The delinquent list is advertised in print rather than online. SDCL 10-23-2 requires the treasurer to publish notice of the sale once during the week before the sale in the official newspapers of the county, and the McCook County Commission designated The Special as the official county newspaper for 2026. Under SDCL 10-23-3 that notice carries the time and place of the sale, the list of certificates to be sold, the names the taxes are assessed against or the current owner of record, and the amount of taxes due.
  • Delinquencies are rising. Figures reviewed by the commission in February 2026 put total delinquent taxes at $157,263.57 at the end of 2025, up from $92,731.09 at the end of 2024, $67,225.62 at the end of 2023 and $45,795.06 at the end of 2022, and the Auditor's tax account record shows 16 years of delinquent taxes across all taxing entities.
  • The tax deed pipeline is where parcels reach the market. In October 2025 the Treasurer told the commission that 10 to 15 properties needed the tax deed process brought up to date, and in May 2026 she reported information on 18 to 19 parcels sent to the Register of Deeds. Deeded parcels are then sold by the commission at a regular meeting.
  • Redemption is open-ended until a deed issues. SDCL 10-24-1 lets any person redeem at any time before a tax deed is issued by paying the treasurer the sum listed in the certificate, interest on that sum at the rate the property sold for from the date of purchase, any later taxes the holder paid, and interest on those at the same rate.
  • A holder cannot move on a deed early or late. SDCL 10-25-1 allows the proceeding to begin after three years from the date of the certificate sale and at any time within six years of it. Notice of intention to take a tax deed must be personally served on the owner of record, the person in possession and the person in whose name the property is taxed; other interested parties may be served personally or by publication once a week for at least two successive weeks in the legal newspapers for the county, and mailed notice goes by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested. Under SDCL 10-25-8 the right of redemption does not expire until sixty days after the affidavit of completed service is filed with the treasurer.
  • The certificate itself expires. SDCL 10-25-16 provides that if the deed proceeding is not completed within six years after the date of the certificate sale, the sale, the tax lien and the lien for any subsequent taxes the holder paid all cease and are forever barred, and the treasurer cancels the certificate on the county's records.
  • Taking the deed does not mean keeping the land. SDCL 10-25-39.2, effective February 2024, requires any person other than a county who acquires real property by tax deed after being issued a tax certificate to offer that property at public auction within one year of the deed, with the seller compensated in the same manner as a redemption under SDCL 10-24-1. Underwrite a South Dakota certificate as an interest position, not as a way to end up owning the parcel.
  • The Register of Deeds records the deed and sits in the same courthouse at 605-425-2701. The county website carries no tax sale page and no online tax payment portal, so parcel level delinquency figures come from the Treasurer's office.

South Dakota rules

Max interest rate
10% per year, bid down at auction
Minimum return
No statutory minimum; interest accrues at your bid rate
Redemption
There is no fixed redemption deadline that starts at the sale. SDCL 10-24-1 lets any person redeem at any time before a tax deed is issued. What sets the outer limit is the deed process: SDCL 10-25-1 bars the certificate holder from starting that process until three years after the certificate sale, and SDCL 10-25-8 keeps the right to redeem alive until sixty days after the affidavit of completed service of the notice of intention is filed with the treasurer. Missing that sixty-day window passes the owner's, mortgagee's and lienholder's interests to the certificate holder. After the deed is recorded, the former owner has one hundred eighty days to bring an action to recover possession or to avoid the deed, which is a limitation period rather than a further right to redeem.
Deed deposit
Chapter 6-13 sets no deposit for a cash sale. A buyer taking an installment contract must deposit the cash portion with the fiscal officer as soon as the bid is accepted, and the board can still decline to approve the sale, in which case the deposit is returned. A separate rule bars a bidder from the sale entirely: under SDCL 10-25-45 a county may refuse a bid from any person who is not current on all property taxes due within that county. Payment methods and any county-set deposit are county practice rather than statute, so confirm them with the county before bidding.
Surplus proceeds
The county first deducts the expenses of taking the tax deed and of the sale. What remains is prorated to the taxing districts on the levies for the most recent year included in the proceeds until all tax and interest is paid. Any surplus left after taxes, penalty, interest, county liens and other costs must be returned to the prior owner of record, and if that owner cannot be found within one hundred eighty days the surplus is transferred to the Unclaimed Property Division under SDCL chapter 43-41B. The same distribution binds a private buyer. SDCL 10-25-39.2, effective February 12, 2024, requires any person other than a county who acquires property by tax deed after being issued a tax certificate to offer that property at public auction under chapter 6-13 within one year of the deed, and entitles that seller only to compensation in the same manner as a redemption under SDCL 10-24-1. A South Dakota certificate is therefore a route to being paid what the certificate is worth, not a route to keeping the land.
Governing statute
SDCL Title 10, Chapter 10-23

A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.

See the full South Dakota rules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does McCook County, South Dakota sell tax liens or tax deeds?

McCook County follows South Dakota's tax lien state system.

When is the McCook County tax certificate sale?

McCook County follows the single statewide sale date. SDCL 10-23-7 directs the treasurer to offer tax certificates at public sale at the courthouse on the third Monday of December each year, between nine a.m. and four p.m., and lets the treasurer adjourn the sale from day to day until every certificate has been offered. The county posts no separate sale calendar, so confirm the current year's arrangements with the Treasurer's office in Salem at 605-425-2721. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does McCook County hold tax deed sales?

McCook County holds tax deed sales once a year. No fixed date. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. South Dakota's redemption rule: Open until a tax deed issues; a deed cannot be sought until 3 years after the certificate sale, and redemption then runs until 60 days after completed service of the notice of intention. Call the McCook County Commission as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Verified Oct 6, 2026 against official county and state sources.

Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the office that runs the sale before you bid.

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