Best PlacesBox Elder, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Box Elder, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Box Elder ranks 14,830th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Box Elder
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.
Box Elder's strengths and weaknesses
Where Box Elder ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
Where Box Elder ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 11% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Box Elder
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Box Elder home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $80,947; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Box Elder's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Box Elder
Box Elder runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Box Elder.
Who works in Box Elder, and how
Work in Box Elder centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Box Elder
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Box Elder.
What the weather is like in Box Elder, month by month
Box Elder sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 26° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 44° | 31° |
| July | 90° | 75° | 60° |
| October | 65° | 48° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Box Elder
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 306 miles away.
The best schools in and around Box Elder
Schools across Box Elder average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Vandenberg Elementary - 02B− · 43% proficient
- New Underwood Elementary - 02D+ · 21% proficient
- Rapid Valley Elementary - 12D · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sturgis Williams Middle School - 02B · 45% proficient
- East Middle School - 30C · 33% proficient
- Douglas Middle School - 01D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Douglas High School - 03B · 50% proficient
- Sturgis Brown High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
- Rapid City High School - 45F · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Box Elder school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Box Elder 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 Box Elder against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Box Elder
Is Box Elder a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Box Elder ranks 14,830th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, a strong job market, and cell coverage, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Box Elder expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $315,839. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $80,947 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Box Elder safe?
Yes, Box Elder is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $246 per resident a year.
Compare Box Elder with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Box Elder. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Box Elder 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.
Box Elder detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Box Elder: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Box Elder: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Box Elder: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Box Elder: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Box Elder 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.