The federal government has taken much of the Standing Rock Reservation away from the tribe over the years. The size of the reservation has been reduced from about 2.7 million acres in 1889, to about 1,000,000 acres today. There is some light industry on the reservation, and a fairly successful casino. Many people on the Standing Rock Reservation live in very remote communities. Access to healthy food and adequate heath care is tenuous because of the lack of available transportation.
Housing is in short supply, and many families live in very overcrowded conditions.
Teenage suicide has been an epidemic on the Standing Rock Reservation according to several sources. The Standing Rock Reservation currently does not receive its full share of federal funding because, as a matter of principle, they have not complied with the Indian Reorganization Act.