Yankton is commonly referred to as the 'River City', due to its proximity to the Missouri River and the importance the river played in the city's settlement and development. The Human Services Center was established as a psychiatric hospital in 1882 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The United States National Park Service's headquarters for the Missouri National Recreational River are located in the city.

Yankton is located on the Missouri River just downstream of the Gavins Point Dam and Lewis and Clark Lake, and just upstream of the confluence with the James River. 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'). 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.

Yankton is a city in and the county seat of Yankton County, South Dakota, United States.

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