Best PlacesHarding County, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Harding County, 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.
Harding County ranks 865th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Harding County
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.
Harding County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harding County ranks high
- QuietBetter than 99% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 97% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 88% of counties
Where Harding County ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Harding County
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harding County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,441, 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 Harding County's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Harding County
Harding County 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 Harding County.
Who works in Harding County, and how
Work in Harding County centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Harding County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harding County.
Is Harding County growing, and who is moving in?
Harding County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Rapid City, SD.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Harding County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Harding County, month by month
Harding County sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 22° | 12° |
| April | 59° | 43° | 30° |
| July | 91° | 74° | 58° |
| October | 63° | 46° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Harding County
The nearest airport, Dickinson/Theodore Roosevelt Regional, is about 89 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 401 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harding County
Schools across Harding County average a B, better than 78% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Little Powder ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Sundance ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Buffalo Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harding County Middle School - 03D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Harding County High School - 01A · 75% proficient
- Sundance Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harding County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harding County 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 Harding County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Harding County
Is Harding County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harding County ranks 865th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, low taxes, and population health, and lowest on internet speeds 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 Harding County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,100. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $80,441 median income, cost of living beats 84% of counties.
Is Harding County safe?
Harding County is safer than 18% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $532 per resident a year.
Compare Harding County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harding County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harding County 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.
Harding County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harding County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harding County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harding County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harding County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harding County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.