Best PlacesBrookings, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brookings, 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.
Brookings ranks 7,942nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Brookings
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.
Brookings' strengths and weaknesses
Where Brookings ranks high
- Short commute12.7 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
Where Brookings ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brookings
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brookings home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $73,596; 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 Brookings' effective rate of 1.14%, 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 Brookings
Brookings runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Brookings.
Who works in Brookings, and how
Work in Brookings centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Brookings
Brookings has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brookings and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brookings, month by month
Brookings sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 16° | 8° |
| April | 55° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Brookings
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 180 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brookings
Schools across Brookings average a B+, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Camelot Intermediate - 06B · 48% proficient
- Elkton Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
- Sioux Valley Elementary - 02C− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Deubrook Jr. High - 02A+ · 75% proficient
- George S. Mickelson Middle School - 02C · 35% proficient
- Elkton Jr. High - 03C− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Brookings High School - 01B+ · 53% proficient
- Sioux Valley High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Elkton High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brookings school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brookings 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 Brookings against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Brookings suits
Common questions about living in Brookings
Is Brookings a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brookings ranks 7,942nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, cell coverage, and low taxes, and lowest on distance from a big city and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brookings expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $279,313. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $73,596 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Brookings safe?
Brookings is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $364 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brookings?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 25 with lows near 8. That works out to about 128 pleasant days a year, more than 84% of towns.
Is Brookings good for families?
Schools beat 72% of towns, crime safety beats 51%, and childcare runs $701 a month.
Compare Brookings with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brookings. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brookings 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.
Brookings detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brookings: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brookings: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brookings: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brookings: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brookings 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.