Best PlacesHillside Colony, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hillside Colony, 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.
Hillside Colony ranks 23,801st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hillside Colony
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.
Hillside Colony's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hillside Colony ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap childcare$569 a month, better than 83% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 121 pleasant days a year, better than 81% of towns
Where Hillside Colony ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hillside Colony
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hillside Colony home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,727, 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 Hillside Colony's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hillside Colony
Hillside Colony runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hillside Colony.
Who works in Hillside Colony, and how
Work in Hillside Colony centers on agriculture & forestry and other services. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Hillside Colony
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hillside Colony.
What the weather is like in Hillside Colony, month by month
Hillside Colony sees roughly 121 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 17° | 7° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 32° |
| July | 88° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 64° | 48° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Hillside Colony
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 237 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hillside Colony
Schools across Hillside Colony average a C+, better than 44% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hendricks ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Willow Lake Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
- Hitchcock-tulare Elementary - 05D+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hitchcock-tulare Jr. High School - 02A+ · 75% proficient
- Clark Middle School - 03C− · 30% proficient
- Doland Jr. High - 02D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Hendricks Senior HighA · 75% proficient
- Hitchcock-tulare High School - 01A− · 60% proficient
- Willow Lake High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hillside Colony school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hillside Colony 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 Hillside Colony against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hillside Colony
Is Hillside Colony a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hillside Colony ranks 23,801st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, clean air, and state infrastructure, and lowest on tree cover 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 Hillside Colony expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $88,100. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $77,727 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Hillside Colony safe?
Hillside Colony is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $482 per resident a year.
Compare Hillside Colony with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hillside Colony. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hillside Colony 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.
Hillside Colony detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hillside Colony: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hillside Colony: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hillside Colony: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hillside Colony: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hillside Colony 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.