Best PlacesBruce, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bruce, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bruce ranks 5,273rd 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 Bruce
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.
Bruce's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bruce ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$116,444 median, better than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 91% of towns
Where Bruce ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bruce
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bruce home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $116,444, 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 Bruce's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 Bruce
Bruce runs older 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 Bruce.
Who works in Bruce, and how
Work in Bruce centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bruce
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bruce.
What the weather is like in Bruce, month by month
Bruce sees roughly 129 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 Bruce
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 184 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bruce
Schools across Bruce average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hendricks ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Camelot Intermediate - 06B · 48% proficient
- Arlington Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Deubrook Jr. High - 02A+ · 75% proficient
- Estelline Middle School - 03B− · 40% proficient
- Arlington Jr. High - 03D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Hendricks Senior HighA · 75% proficient
- Brookings High School - 01B+ · 53% proficient
- Sioux Valley High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bruce school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bruce 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 Bruce against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bruce
Is Bruce a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bruce ranks 5,273rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, what local pay buys, and high incomes, 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 Bruce expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $318,048. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $116,444 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Bruce safe?
Yes, Bruce is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
Compare Bruce with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bruce. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bruce 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.
Bruce detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bruce: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bruce: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bruce: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bruce: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bruce 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.