Best PlacesMission, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mission, 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.
Mission ranks 44,452nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mission
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.
Mission's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mission ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute15.1 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
Where Mission ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mission
A household needs to earn about $21,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mission home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $46,013, 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 Mission's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mission
Mission runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mission.
Who works in Mission, and how
Work in Mission centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mission
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mission.
What the weather is like in Mission, month by month
Mission sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 24° | 12° |
| April | 64° | 47° | 31° |
| July | 93° | 76° | 61° |
| October | 68° | 49° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Mission
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 77 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 280 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mission
Schools across Mission average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Newcastle Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Jones County High School - 01A · 75% proficient
- Newcastle High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Todd County High School - 01F · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mission school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mission 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 Mission against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mission
Is Mission a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mission ranks 44,452nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, short commutes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on crime and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mission expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $80,790. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $46,013 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Mission safe?
Mission is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,087 per resident a year.
Compare Mission with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mission. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mission 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.
Mission detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mission: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mission: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mission: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mission: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mission 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.