Best PlacesGayville, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gayville, 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.
Gayville ranks 22,039th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gayville
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.
Gayville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gayville ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute19.9 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Gayville ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gayville
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gayville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,364, 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 Gayville's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gayville
Gayville 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 Gayville.
Who works in Gayville, and how
Work in Gayville centers on manufacturing and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Gayville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gayville.
What the weather is like in Gayville, month by month
Gayville sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 21° | 13° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Gayville
The nearest airport, Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Field, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gayville
Schools across Gayville average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jolley Elementary - 04B · 45% proficient
- Irene - Wakonda Elementary - 02D+ · 21% proficient
- Gayville-volin Elementary - 02D+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Vermillion Middle School - 02D+ · 25% proficient
- Irene - Wakonda Jr. High - 04D · 21% proficient
- Gayville-volin Middle School - 03D · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Vermillion High School - 01B+ · 55% proficient
- Irene - Wakonda High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Gayville-volin High School - 01D · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gayville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gayville 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 Gayville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gayville
Is Gayville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gayville ranks 22,039th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, cell coverage, and state infrastructure, and lowest on a weak job market and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gayville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $148,841. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $73,364 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Gayville safe?
Gayville is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $364 per resident a year.
Compare Gayville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gayville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gayville 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.
Gayville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gayville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gayville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gayville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gayville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gayville 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.