Best PlacesIsabel, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Isabel, 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.
Isabel ranks 26,776th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Isabel
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.
Isabel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Isabel ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 135 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
Where Isabel ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Isabel
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Isabel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,122, 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 Isabel's effective rate of 1.07%, 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 Isabel
Isabel runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Isabel.
Who works in Isabel, and how
Work in Isabel centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Isabel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Isabel.
What the weather is like in Isabel, month by month
Isabel sees roughly 135 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 20° | 11° |
| April | 58° | 42° | 30° |
| July | 90° | 74° | 59° |
| October | 62° | 46° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Isabel
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 91 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 397 miles away.
The best schools in and around Isabel
Schools across Isabel average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sundance ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Timber Lake Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Timber Lake Middle School - 03B− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Timber Lake High School - 01A− · 60% proficient
- Sundance Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Isabel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Isabel 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 Isabel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Isabel
Is Isabel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Isabel ranks 26,776th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and quiet, and lowest on civic engagement 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 Isabel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $79,622. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $61,122 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Isabel safe?
Isabel is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $625 per resident a year.
Compare Isabel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Isabel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Isabel 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.
Isabel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Isabel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Isabel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Isabel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Isabel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Isabel 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.