Best PlacesBushnell, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bushnell, 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.
Bushnell ranks 6,472nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bushnell
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.
Bushnell's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bushnell ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute16.7 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
Where Bushnell ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bushnell
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bushnell home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,458, 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 Bushnell's effective rate of 1.06%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Bushnell
Bushnell runs older 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 Bushnell.
Who works in Bushnell, and how
Work in Bushnell centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Bushnell
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bushnell.
What the weather is like in Bushnell, month by month
Bushnell 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 Bushnell
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 172 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bushnell
Schools across Bushnell average a B, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Camelot Intermediate - 06B · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Brookings High School - 01B+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bushnell school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bushnell 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 Bushnell against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bushnell
Is Bushnell a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bushnell ranks 6,472nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, low taxes, and civic engagement, 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 Bushnell expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $291,700. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $86,458 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Bushnell safe?
Bushnell is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $366 per resident a year.
Compare Bushnell with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bushnell. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bushnell 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.
Bushnell detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bushnell: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bushnell: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bushnell: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bushnell: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bushnell 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.