Best PlacesHill City, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hill City, 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.
Hill City ranks 18,658th 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 Hill City
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.
Hill City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hill City ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of towns
Where Hill City ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hill City
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hill City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,580, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Hill City's effective rate of 0.97%, 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 Hill City
Hill City runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hill City.
Who works in Hill City, and how
Work in Hill City centers on hospitality & food and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Hill City
Hill City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Hill City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hill City, month by month
Hill City sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 26° | 14° |
| April | 54° | 39° | 26° |
| July | 83° | 68° | 53° |
| October | 58° | 44° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Hill City
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 287 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hill City
Schools across Hill City average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hill City Elementary - 02B · 50% proficient
- Hermosa Elementary - 04C− · 30% proficient
- Custer Elementary - 02C− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southwest Middle School - 38B+ · 50% proficient
- Hill City Middle School - 04B+ · 50% proficient
- Custer Jr. High - 05B− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Custer High School - 01B− · 45% proficient
- Hill City High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Rapid City High School - 45F · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hill City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hill City 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 Hill City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hill City
Is Hill City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hill City ranks 18,658th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, health care access, and heat safety, and lowest on distance from a big city and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hill City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $393,559. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $81,580 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Hill City safe?
Hill City is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $379 per resident a year.
Compare Hill City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hill City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hill City 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.
Hill City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hill City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hill City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hill City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hill City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hill City 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.