Best PlacesBradley, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bradley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bradley ranks 18,449th 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 Bradley
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.
Bradley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bradley ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 85% of towns
Where Bradley ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bradley
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bradley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,300, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Bradley's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bradley
Bradley runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bradley.
Who works in Bradley, and how
Work in Bradley centers on agriculture & forestry and public administration. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Bradley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bradley.
What the weather is like in Bradley, month by month
Bradley sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 14° | 6° |
| April | 54° | 42° | 32° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Bradley
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 217 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bradley
Schools across Bradley average a C−, better than 29% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Webster Area Elementary - 03B · 50% proficient
- Browns Valley ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Webster Area Middle School - 02B− · 40% proficient
- Browns Valley MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- Clark Middle School - 03C− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Webster Area High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
- Clark High School - 01D · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bradley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bradley 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 Bradley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bradley
Is Bradley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bradley ranks 18,449th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, a stable housing market, and state infrastructure, 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 Bradley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $101,600. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $94,300 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Bradley safe?
Bradley is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $472 per resident a year.
Compare Bradley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bradley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bradley 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.
Bradley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bradley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bradley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bradley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bradley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bradley 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.