Rising tax collections accompany higher traffic at Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Share This Article

An aerial view of Sturgis during its annual motorcycle rally in 2025. (Courtesy of South Dakota Highway Patrol)

An aerial view of Sturgis during its annual motorcycle rally in 2025. (Courtesy of South Dakota Highway Patrol)

Higher traffic counts translated to higher spending and tax collections during this year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, according to new numbers from the South Dakota Department of Revenue.

The department estimated Tuesday that tax collections attributable to the 2025 rally totaled $1.58 million, which was a 13% increase over last year’s collections. The figures include revenue from state and local taxes.

The 4.2% state sales tax made up the largest portion of this year’s collections, totaling $901,513. There were also collections of $299,619 from the 1.5% state tourism tax on lodging and amusement services, and $380,604 in city sales taxes.

There were 1,181 registered temporary vendors for this year’s rally, which was a 32% increase over 2024. The vendors were in cities including Sturgis, Rapid City, Custer, Hill City and Keystone.

The rally dates were Aug. 1-10. The South Dakota Department of Transportation’s automated traffic counters at nine locations in Sturgis logged 537,459 vehicles entering the city during the rally, which was up 11% compared with last year, according to final numbers published earlier this month.