Best PlacesFort Pierre, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Pierre, 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.
Fort Pierre ranks 4,675th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Pierre
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.
Fort Pierre's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Pierre ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute17.2 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
Where Fort Pierre ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 27% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Pierre
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Pierre home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,719, 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 Fort Pierre's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 Fort Pierre
Fort Pierre 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 Fort Pierre.
Who works in Fort Pierre, and how
Work in Fort Pierre centers on public administration and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Fort Pierre
Fort Pierre has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Fort Pierre and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fort Pierre, month by month
Fort Pierre sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 90° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 62° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Fort Pierre
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 310 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Pierre
Schools across Fort Pierre average a C+, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stanley County Elementary - 08A− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Newcastle Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Jones County Middle School - 04B+ · 50% proficient
- Stanley County Middle School - 02B− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Jones County High School - 01A · 75% proficient
- Newcastle High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Stanley County High School - 01D · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Pierre school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Pierre 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 Fort Pierre against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Pierre
Is Fort Pierre a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Pierre ranks 4,675th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and civic engagement, 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 Fort Pierre expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $290,031. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $84,719 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Fort Pierre safe?
Yes, Fort Pierre is safer than 69% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Pierre with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Pierre. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Pierre 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.
Fort Pierre detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Pierre: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Pierre: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Pierre: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Pierre: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Pierre 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.