Best PlacesCoal Springs, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Coal Springs, 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.
Coal Springs ranks 17,893rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Coal Springs
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.
Coal Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Coal Springs ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
Where Coal Springs ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Coal Springs
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Coal Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,667, 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 Coal Springs' effective rate of 0.92%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Coal Springs
Coal Springs 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 Coal Springs.
Who works in Coal Springs, and how
Work in Coal Springs centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 49%
- Work from home 46%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Coal Springs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Coal Springs.
What the weather is like in Coal Springs, month by month
Coal Springs sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 20° | 11° |
| April | 58° | 42° | 30° |
| July | 90° | 74° | 59° |
| October | 62° | 46° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Coal Springs
The nearest airport, Dickinson/Theodore Roosevelt Regional, is about 100 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 407 miles away.
The best schools in and around Coal Springs
Schools across Coal Springs average a C+, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sundance ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Bison Elementary - 02D+ · 25% proficient
- Dupree Elementary - 02F · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bison Jr. High - 04D · 21% proficient
- Dupree Jr. High - 04F · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- Bison High School - 01A · 75% proficient
- Sundance Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Dupree High School - 01F · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Coal Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Coal Springs 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 Coal Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Coal Springs
Is Coal Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Coal Springs ranks 17,893rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and quiet, 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 Coal Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $154,939. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $86,667 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Coal Springs safe?
Coal Springs is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $759 per resident a year.
Compare Coal Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Coal Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Coal Springs 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.
Coal Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Coal Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Coal Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Coal Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Coal Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Coal Springs 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.