Best PlacesIdeal, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ideal, 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.
Ideal ranks 38,313th 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 Ideal
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.
Ideal's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ideal ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute17.0 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 84% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of towns
Where Ideal ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
- Household income$49,896 median, better than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ideal
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ideal home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,896, 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 Ideal's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ideal
Ideal 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 Ideal.
Who works in Ideal, and how
Work in Ideal centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Ideal
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ideal.
What the weather is like in Ideal, month by month
Ideal sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 62° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 91° | 77° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Ideal
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 61 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 256 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ideal
Schools across Ideal average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Lyon Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Winner Elementary - 04C− · 30% proficient
- Lyman Elementary - 04D+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Lyon Junior High SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Winner Middle School - 02F · 11% proficient
- Lyman Middle School - 02F · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Winner High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
- Lyman High School - 01D · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ideal school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ideal 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 Ideal against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ideal
Is Ideal a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ideal ranks 38,313th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, short commutes, 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 Ideal expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $132,000. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $49,896 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Ideal safe?
Ideal is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $562 per resident a year.
Compare Ideal with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ideal. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ideal 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.
Ideal detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ideal: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ideal: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ideal: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ideal: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ideal 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.