Best PlacesEmery, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Emery, 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.
Emery ranks 19,978th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Emery
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.
Emery's strengths and weaknesses
Where Emery ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 91% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 128 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 83% of towns
Where Emery ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Emery
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Emery home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,313, 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 Emery's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Emery
Emery runs younger 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 Emery.
Who works in Emery, and how
Work in Emery centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Emery
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Emery.
What the weather is like in Emery, month by month
Emery sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 63° | 50° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Emery
The nearest airport, Joe Foss Field, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 181 miles away.
The best schools in and around Emery
Schools across Emery average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Parkston Elementary - 02A− · 60% proficient
- Freeman Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
- Bridgewater-emery Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hanson Middle School - 02B− · 40% proficient
- Freeman Jr High - 05B− · 40% proficient
- Bridgewater-emery Middle School - 04B− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Bridgewater-emery High School - 01A− · 60% proficient
- Parkston High School - 01B · 50% proficient
- Freeman High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Emery school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Emery 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 Emery against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Emery
Is Emery a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Emery ranks 19,978th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, a strong job market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Emery expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $180,500. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $78,313 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Emery safe?
Yes, Emery is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $317 per resident a year.
Compare Emery with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Emery. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Emery 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.
Emery detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Emery: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Emery: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Emery: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Emery: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Emery 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.