It’s difficult to give an accurate number of the amount of “community cats” in the Sioux Falls area. A community cat is defined as a cat that is stray, free-roaming (unowned) or feral.
Estimating Community Cat Populations
Researchers who work with community cat populations have devised ways to estimate the number of cats in a given area based on population.
Calculating Cats Based on Population
One accepted method which is used by major animal welfare associations such as Best Friends Animal Society and PetSmart Charities is to take the human population of an area and divide by 6.
Outdoor Cat Population Calculator
The University of Maryland and Maryland Department of Agriculture developed an Outdoor Cat Calculator to determine the number of cats in an area, which is also based on human population as well as local shelter intake statistics.
Sioux Falls Community Cat Population
Based on these methods, we can estimate that there anywhere from 28,000 to 33,000 community cats in the Sioux Falls area. Using current US Census figures with the most recent population estimate for 2022 of 202,078, the population divided by 6 method gives us approximately 33,679 cats. If we use the Maryland researchers’ calculations and the most recently published cat intake figures for the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society of 4,200, we get a figure of 28,868 community cats.
Considering recent news reports that population growth in Sioux Falls is above the national average and that trend is expected to continue, this means the number of community cats will likely rise without any attempts to institute a TNR program.
Our Community Cat Population Poll
We recently did a poll on social media asking Sioux Falls residents who many community cats they believed were in the area. A graph of the poll results are below. The majority of respondents (n=107) choose a lower figure (17,000 to 25,000) then the “actual” range based on accepted estimating methods (28,000 to 33,000).
