Best PlacesLower Brule, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lower Brule, 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.
Lower Brule ranks 44,208th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lower Brule
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.
Lower Brule's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lower Brule ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute10.5 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
Where Lower Brule ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$38,300 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lower Brule
A household needs to earn about $9,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lower Brule home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $38,300, 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 Lower Brule's effective rate of 0.01%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lower Brule
Lower Brule runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lower Brule.
Who works in Lower Brule, and how
Work in Lower Brule centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Lower Brule
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lower Brule.
What the weather is like in Lower Brule, month by month
Lower Brule sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 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 | 60° | 46° | 35° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 63° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Lower Brule
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 269 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lower Brule
Schools across Lower Brule average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hendricks ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Chamberlain Elementary - 03C− · 30% proficient
- Lyman Elementary - 04D+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chamberlain Jr. High - 02D · 20% proficient
- Lyman Middle School - 02F · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Hendricks Senior HighA · 75% proficient
- Chamberlain High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
- Lyman High School - 01D · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lower Brule school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lower Brule 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 Lower Brule against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lower Brule
Is Lower Brule a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lower Brule ranks 44,208th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, short commutes, and clean air, and lowest on thin health care access and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lower Brule expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $38,867. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $38,300 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Lower Brule safe?
Lower Brule is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $833 per resident a year.
Compare Lower Brule with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lower Brule. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lower Brule 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.
Lower Brule detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lower Brule: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lower Brule: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lower Brule: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lower Brule: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lower Brule 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.