Best PlacesLesterville, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lesterville, 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.
Lesterville ranks 17,669th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
Show off this ranking with the free Best Places to Live badge for your site.
The best neighborhoods in Lesterville
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.
Lesterville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lesterville ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 121 pleasant days a year, better than 81% of towns
- School gradeB, better than 75% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 64% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 70% of towns
Where Lesterville ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 50% of towns
- Household income$71,590 median, better than only 50% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lesterville
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lesterville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,590, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.7% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-08-20 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 Lesterville's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Lesterville
Lesterville 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 Lesterville.
Who works in Lesterville, and how
Work in Lesterville centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Lesterville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lesterville.
What the weather is like in Lesterville, month by month
Lesterville sees roughly 121 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 21° | 13° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Lesterville
The nearest airport, Joe Foss Field, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lesterville
Schools across Lesterville average a B, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Akron Westfield Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Menno Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
- Scotland Elementary - 02F · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Akron Westfield Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Menno Middle School - 05A · 60% proficient
- Scotland Middle School - 05F · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Akron Westfield Senior High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Scotland High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Menno High School - 01D+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lesterville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lesterville 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 Lesterville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lesterville
Is Lesterville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lesterville ranks 17,669th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, the weather, and good schools, and lowest on a weak job market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lesterville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,233. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $71,590 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Lesterville safe?
Lesterville is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
Compare Lesterville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lesterville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lesterville 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.
Lesterville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lesterville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lesterville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lesterville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lesterville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lesterville 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.