Best PlacesButte County, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Butte County, 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.
Butte County ranks 1,714th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Butte County
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.
Butte County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Butte County ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 97% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 89% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 88% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 83% of counties
- Cheap childcare$569 a month, better than 78% of counties
Where Butte County ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 34% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 34% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Butte County
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Butte County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,038, 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 Butte County's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Butte County
Butte County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Butte County.
Who works in Butte County, and how
Work in Butte County centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Butte County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Butte County.
Is Butte County growing, and who is moving in?
Butte County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from LaSalle County, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Butte County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Butte County, month by month
Butte County sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 55° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 59° | 47° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Butte County
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 335 miles away.
The best schools in and around Butte County
Schools across Butte County average a C+, better than 50% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sundance ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Newell Elementary - 02D+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Belle Fourche Middle School - 07C · 35% proficient
- Spearfish Middle School - 05C− · 28% proficient
- Newell Middle School - 04F · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Sundance Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Spearfish High School - 01B · 50% proficient
- Belle Fourche High School - 01B · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Butte County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Butte County 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 Butte County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Butte County
Is Butte County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Butte County ranks 1,714th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low taxes, a strong job 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 Butte County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $244,895. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $75,038 median income, cost of living beats 60% of counties.
Is Butte County safe?
Butte County is safer than 34% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $455 per resident a year.
Compare Butte County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Butte County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Butte County 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.
Butte County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Butte County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Butte County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Butte County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Butte County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Butte County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.