Best PlacesAgar, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Agar, 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.
Agar ranks 15,306th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Agar
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.
Agar's strengths and weaknesses
Where Agar ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Short commute20.4 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
Where Agar ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Agar
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Agar home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,375, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Agar's effective rate of 0.86%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Agar
Agar runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Agar.
Who works in Agar, and how
Work in Agar centers on agriculture & forestry and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Agar
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Agar.
What the weather is like in Agar, month by month
Agar sees roughly 127 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 90° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 62° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Agar
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 322 miles away.
The best schools in and around Agar
Schools across Agar average a C+, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Onida Elementary - 04A+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sully Buttes Middle School - 06D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Sully Buttes High School - 07D+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Agar school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Agar 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 Agar against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Agar
Is Agar a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Agar ranks 15,306th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and state infrastructure, 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 Agar expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $326,300. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $74,375 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Agar safe?
Agar is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $384 per resident a year.
Compare Agar with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Agar. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Agar 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.
Agar detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Agar: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Agar: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Agar: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Agar: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Agar detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.