Best PlacesMilbank, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Milbank, 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.
Milbank ranks 6,659th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Milbank
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.
Milbank's strengths and weaknesses
Where Milbank ranks high
- Short commute10.4 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 91% of towns
Where Milbank ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 34% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 38% of towns
- Household income$65,838 median, better than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Milbank
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Milbank home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,838, 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 Milbank's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Milbank
Milbank 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 Milbank.
Who works in Milbank, and how
Work in Milbank centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Milbank
Milbank has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Milbank and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Milbank, month by month
Milbank sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 54° | 42° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Milbank
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 168 miles away.
The best schools in and around Milbank
Schools across Milbank average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Milbank Elementary - 03A · 70% proficient
- Madison-marietta-nassau ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Knoll ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Milbank Middle School - 02B+ · 50% proficient
- Waverly-south Shore Middle School - 03D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Milbank High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Lac Qui Parle Valley SecondaryC+ · 37% proficient
- Ortonville SecondaryC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Milbank school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Milbank 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 Milbank against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Milbank
Is Milbank a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Milbank ranks 6,659th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, low taxes, 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 Milbank expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,089. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $65,838 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Milbank safe?
Yes, Milbank is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
Compare Milbank with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Milbank. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Milbank 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.
Milbank detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Milbank: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Milbank: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Milbank: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Milbank: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Milbank 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.