Best PlacesLucas, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lucas, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lucas ranks 14,494th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lucas
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.
Lucas' strengths and weaknesses
Where Lucas ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute16.6 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of towns
Where Lucas ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lucas
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lucas home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,000, 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 Lucas' effective rate of 1.23%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Lucas
Lucas 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 Lucas.
Who works in Lucas, and how
Work in Lucas centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lucas
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lucas.
What the weather is like in Lucas, month by month
Lucas sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 18° | 10° |
| April | 59° | 44° | 32° |
| July | 89° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 62° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Lucas
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 325 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lucas
Schools across Lucas average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hoven Elementary - 02A+ · 75% proficient
- Gettysburg Elementary - 02D+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gettysburg Middle School - 03B− · 40% proficient
- Hoven Jr. High - 03D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Gettysburg High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Hoven High School - 01D+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lucas school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lucas 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 Lucas against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lucas
Is Lucas a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lucas ranks 14,494th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lucas expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $112,500. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $78,000 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Lucas safe?
Lucas is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $328 per resident a year.
Compare Lucas with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lucas. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lucas 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.
Lucas detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lucas: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lucas: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lucas: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lucas: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lucas 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.