Best Places57344, SD Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 57344, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

57344 ranks 9,427th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.

#9,427
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 57344

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 57344 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

57344's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Low taxes
Top 5%Good schools
Top 10%Short commutes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 57344 with other zip codes.

Where 57344 ranks high

  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 97% of zip codes
  • School gradeA, better than 96% of zip codes
  • Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 94% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than 89% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$569 a month, better than 88% of zip codes

Where 57344 ranks low

  • Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of zip codes
  • Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 57344

A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 57344 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,722, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$50,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,170
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $190,900 home
Median rent
$873
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$973
Property tax$133
Homeowners insurance$64

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 57344's effective rate of 0.84%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 57344

57344 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
43
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
26%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1824%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4915%
50 to 6416%
65 and older26%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 57344.


Who works in 57344, and how

Work in 57344 centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
6%
below the national average
Unemployment
1.9%
below the national average
Job growth
−2.1%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social17%
Agriculture & forestry16%
Construction14%
Hospitality & food10%
Public administration9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 85%
  • Work from home 6%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 9%

Life in 57344

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 57344.


What the weather is like in 57344, month by month

57344 sees roughly 129 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January29°19°12°
April60°46°36°
July88°76°65°
October63°50°39°

Flying in and out of 57344

The nearest airport, Joe Foss Field, is about 94 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 202 miles away.

Nearest airport
FSD
Joe Foss Field, about 94 miles
Airport size
Small hub
120th-busiest in the US, 33 nonstop destinations
Average drive
134 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 57344

Schools across 57344 average an A, better than 96% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 57344 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


57344 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 57344 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 57344

Is 57344 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 57344 ranks 9,427th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low taxes, good schools, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 57344 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $190,900. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $84,722 median income, cost of living beats 80% of zip codes.

Is 57344 safe?

57344 is safer than 35% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $422 per resident a year.


Compare 57344 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 57344. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 57344 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

57344 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 57344: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 57344: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 57344: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 57344: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

57344 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.