Best PlacesLudlow, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ludlow, 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.
Ludlow ranks 17,398th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ludlow
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.
Ludlow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ludlow ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute18.7 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 141 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
Where Ludlow ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ludlow
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ludlow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,441, 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 Ludlow's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Ludlow
Ludlow 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 Ludlow.
Who works in Ludlow, and how
Work in Ludlow centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Ludlow
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ludlow.
What the weather is like in Ludlow, month by month
Ludlow sees roughly 141 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 22° | 12° |
| April | 59° | 43° | 30° |
| July | 91° | 74° | 58° |
| October | 63° | 46° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Ludlow
The nearest airport, Dickinson/Theodore Roosevelt Regional, is about 80 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 410 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ludlow
Schools across Ludlow average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Buffalo Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harding County Middle School - 03D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Harding County High School - 01A · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ludlow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ludlow 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 Ludlow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ludlow
Is Ludlow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ludlow ranks 17,398th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, quiet, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ludlow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,100. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $80,441 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is Ludlow safe?
Ludlow is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $532 per resident a year.
Compare Ludlow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ludlow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ludlow 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.
Ludlow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ludlow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ludlow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ludlow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ludlow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ludlow 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.