The population was 15,411 at the 2020 census, making it the 7th most populous city in South Dakota, and it is the principal city of the Yankton Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes the entirety of Yankton County and which had an estimated population of 23,297 as of July 1, 2021. As the first capital of Dakota Territory, it was named after the Yankton tribe of Western Dakota people; Yankton is derived from the Dakota word I-hank-ton-wan ("the end village").Riggs, S.R., The Reverend (1852) – Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge: Grammar and Dictionary of the Dakota Language. Smithsonian Institution/G.P. Putnam, New York, N.Y. pp. 297, 336.
The population was 15,411 at the 2020 census, making it the 7th most populous city in South Dakota, and it is the principal city of the Yankton Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes the entirety of Yankton County and which had an estimated population of 23,297 as of July 1, 2021. As the first capital of Dakota Territory, it was named after the Yankton tribe of Western Dakota people; Yankton is derived from the Dakota word I-hank-ton-wan ("the end village").Riggs, S.R., The Reverend (1852) – Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge: Grammar and Dictionary of the Dakota Language. Smithsonian In.stitution/G.P Putnam, New York, N.Y. pp. 297, 336.