Best PlacesHarding, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harding, 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 ranks 17,043rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Harding
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harding ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute18.7 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 143 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
Where Harding ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harding
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harding 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'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
Harding 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.
Who works in Harding, and how
Work in Harding 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
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harding.
What the weather is like in Harding, month by month
Harding sees roughly 143 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
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 98 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 386 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harding
Schools across Harding average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- 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 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harding 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harding
Is Harding a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harding ranks 17,043rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, quiet, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harding 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 73% of towns.
Is Harding safe?
Harding is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $532 per resident a year.
Compare Harding with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harding. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harding 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harding: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harding: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harding: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harding: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harding 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.