Best PlacesKirley, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kirley, 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.
Kirley ranks 30,229th 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 Kirley
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.
Kirley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kirley ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 128 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of towns
- Cheap childcare$569 a month, better than 83% of towns
Where Kirley ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kirley
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kirley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,375, 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 Kirley's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Kirley
Kirley runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kirley.
Who works in Kirley, and how
Work in Kirley centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Kirley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kirley.
What the weather is like in Kirley, month by month
Kirley sees roughly 128 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 Kirley
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 358 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kirley
Schools across Kirley average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Newcastle Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Sundance Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Newcastle High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kirley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kirley 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 Kirley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kirley
Is Kirley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kirley ranks 30,229th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, quiet, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kirley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $150,300. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $76,375 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Kirley safe?
Kirley is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $494 per resident a year.
Compare Kirley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kirley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kirley 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.
Kirley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kirley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kirley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kirley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kirley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kirley 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.