Best PlacesLacy, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lacy, 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.
Lacy ranks 14,592nd 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 Lacy
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.
Lacy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lacy ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$109,327 median, better than 90% of towns
Where Lacy ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 7% of towns
Who lives in Lacy
Lacy runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lacy.
Who works in Lacy, and how
Work in Lacy centers on public administration and construction. 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 Lacy
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lacy.
What the weather is like in Lacy, month by month
Lacy sees roughly 127 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 90° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 62° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Lacy
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 336 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lacy
Schools across Lacy average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Onida Elementary - 04A+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stanley County Middle School - 02B− · 40% proficient
- Sully Buttes Middle School - 06D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Sully Buttes High School - 07D+ · 25% proficient
- Stanley County High School - 01D · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lacy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lacy 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 Lacy against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lacy
Is Lacy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lacy ranks 14,592nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on civic engagement and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lacy safe?
Lacy is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $577 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lacy?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 12. That works out to about 127 pleasant days a year, more than 84% of towns.
Compare Lacy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lacy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lacy 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.
Lacy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lacy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lacy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lacy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lacy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lacy 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.
- 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.