Best PlacesMellette, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mellette, 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.
Mellette ranks 10,258th 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 Mellette
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.
Mellette's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mellette ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute21.0 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
Where Mellette ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 27% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 35% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mellette
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mellette home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,360, 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 Mellette's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mellette
Mellette runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mellette.
Who works in Mellette, and how
Work in Mellette centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Mellette
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mellette.
What the weather is like in Mellette, month by month
Mellette sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 15° | 5° |
| April | 58° | 43° | 29° |
| July | 88° | 73° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 47° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Mellette
The nearest airport, Aberdeen Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 258 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mellette
Schools across Mellette average a C, better than 35% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Warner Elementary - 02A− · 60% proficient
- Northwestern Elementary - 04B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Warner Middle School - 03B− · 40% proficient
- Northwestern Middle School - 02D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Northwestern High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Warner High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Isucceed - 92D+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mellette school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mellette 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 Mellette against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mellette
Is Mellette a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mellette ranks 10,258th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, clean air, and walkability, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mellette expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $151,550. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $80,360 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Mellette safe?
Mellette is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $360 per resident a year.
Compare Mellette with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mellette. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mellette 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.
Mellette detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mellette: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mellette: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mellette: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mellette: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mellette 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.