Best PlacesImlay, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Imlay, 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.
Imlay ranks 38,690th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Imlay
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.
Imlay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Imlay ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute14.9 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 125 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
Where Imlay ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Imlay
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Imlay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,765, 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 Imlay's effective rate of 0.28%, 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 Imlay
Imlay runs younger 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 Imlay.
Who works in Imlay, and how
Work in Imlay centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Imlay
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Imlay.
What the weather is like in Imlay, month by month
Imlay sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 22° | 11° |
| April | 63° | 45° | 30° |
| July | 94° | 76° | 59° |
| October | 65° | 48° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Imlay
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 289 miles away.
The best schools in and around Imlay
Schools across Imlay average a D+, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wall Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
- Rockyford School - 03F · 5% proficient
Top middle schools
- Newcastle Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Wall Middle School - 06B− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Newcastle High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Wall High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Imlay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Imlay 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 Imlay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Imlay
Is Imlay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Imlay ranks 38,690th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, short commutes, and low property taxes, and lowest on crime and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Imlay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $237,474. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $79,765 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Imlay safe?
Imlay is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,124 per resident a year.
Compare Imlay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Imlay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Imlay 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.
Imlay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Imlay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Imlay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Imlay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Imlay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Imlay 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.