Best PlacesColton, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Colton, 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.
Colton ranks 6,103rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Colton
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.
Colton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Colton ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 146 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
Where Colton ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 17% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 28% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 30% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Colton
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Colton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $95,430, 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 Colton's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Colton
Colton'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 Colton.
Who works in Colton, and how
Work in Colton centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Colton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Colton.
What the weather is like in Colton, month by month
Colton sees roughly 146 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 9° |
| April | 58° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 61° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Colton
The nearest airport, Joe Foss Field, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 179 miles away.
The best schools in and around Colton
Schools across Colton average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tri-valley Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dell Rapids Middle School - 03A− · 55% proficient
- Tri-valley Intermediate School - 03B · 45% proficient
- Chester Middle School - 03D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Dell Rapids High School - 01B+ · 55% proficient
- Tri-valley High School - 01B · 50% proficient
- Chester High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Colton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Colton 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 Colton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Colton
Is Colton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Colton ranks 6,103rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, the weather, and state infrastructure, 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 Colton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $268,145. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $95,430 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Colton safe?
Yes, Colton is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $238 per resident a year.
Compare Colton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Colton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Colton 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.
Colton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Colton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Colton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Colton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Colton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Colton 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.