Best PlacesMeade County, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Meade County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Meade County ranks 771st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Meade County
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.
The best areas in Meade County
The parts of Meade County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Box Elder & Ellsworth AFB
More households have young kids, it is quieter, and health outcomes score higher.
Black Hawk & Summerset
Fewer homes sit empty and local pay stretches further.
Sturgis
More residents vote, though incomes run lower.
Scores across Meade County run from about the 22nd to the 77th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Meade County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Meade County ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 97% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 88% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of counties
Where Meade County ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 17% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 29% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 32% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Meade County
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Meade County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $81,509; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Meade County's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 Meade County
Meade County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Meade County.
Who works in Meade County, and how
Work in Meade County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Meade County
Meade County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Meade County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Meade County growing, and who is moving in?
Meade County has grown about 16% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Rapid City, SD metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Meade County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Meade County, month by month
Meade County sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 26° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 44° | 31° |
| July | 90° | 75° | 60° |
| October | 65° | 48° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Meade County
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 314 miles away.
The best schools in and around Meade County
Schools across Meade County average a B−, better than 59% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Whitewood Elementary - 04A+ · 75% proficient
- Sundance ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Pinedale Elementary - 11B · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Newcastle Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Stagebarn Middle School - 10B · 47% proficient
- Sturgis Williams Middle School - 02B · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Faith High School - 01A · 75% proficient
- Sundance Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Douglas High School - 03B · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Meade County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Meade County 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 Meade County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Meade County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 64% of counties and health care access beats 55%.
Common questions about living in Meade County
Is Meade County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Meade County ranks 771st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on a strong job market, low taxes, and population health, and lowest on distance from a big city and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Meade County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $322,448. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $81,509 median income, cost of living beats 74% of counties.
Is Meade County safe?
Yes, Meade County is safer than 88% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Meade County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 14. That works out to about 104 pleasant days a year, more than 64% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Meade County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Box Elder & Ellsworth AFB, Black Hawk & Summerset, and Sturgis. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Meade County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Meade County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Meade County 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.
Meade County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Meade County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Meade County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Meade County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Meade County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Meade County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.