Best PlacesLead, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lead, 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.
Lead ranks 28,961st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lead
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.
Lead's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lead ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
Where Lead ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lead
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lead home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,108, 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 Lead's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lead
Lead 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 Lead.
Who works in Lead, and how
Work in Lead centers on hospitality & food and arts & entertainment. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Lead
Lead has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Lead and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lead, month by month
Lead sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 55° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 59° | 47° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Lead
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 314 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lead
Schools across Lead average a C, better than 29% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sundance ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Hill City Elementary - 02B · 50% proficient
- Lead-deadwood Elementary - 03C− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hill City Middle School - 04B+ · 50% proficient
- Lead-deadwood Middle School - 02C− · 30% proficient
- Spearfish Middle School - 05C− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Spearfish High School - 01B · 50% proficient
- Hill City High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Lead-deadwood High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lead school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lead 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 Lead against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lead
Is Lead a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lead ranks 28,961st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, low taxes, and biking, and lowest on distance from a big city and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lead expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,658. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $65,108 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Lead safe?
Lead is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $473 per resident a year.
Compare Lead with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lead. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lead 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.
Lead detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lead: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lead: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lead: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lead: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lead 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.