Best PlacesMorningside, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Morningside, 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.
Morningside ranks 10,808th 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 Morningside
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.
Morningside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Morningside ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute16.0 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of towns
Where Morningside ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 31% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Morningside
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Morningside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,474, 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 Morningside's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 Morningside
Morningside'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 Morningside.
Who works in Morningside, and how
Work in Morningside centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Morningside
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Morningside.
What the weather is like in Morningside, month by month
Morningside sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 17° | 7° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 32° |
| July | 88° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 64° | 48° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Morningside
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 66 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 239 miles away.
The best schools in and around Morningside
Schools across Morningside average a C, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Iroquois Elementary - 04A+ · 75% proficient
- Hendricks ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Huron Middle School - 02C− · 30% proficient
- Iroquois Middle School - 02F · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Huron High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
- Iroquois High School - 01D+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Morningside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Morningside 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 Morningside against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Morningside
Is Morningside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Morningside ranks 10,808th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, short commutes, and state infrastructure, 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 Morningside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $231,954. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $76,474 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Morningside safe?
Yes, Morningside is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.
Compare Morningside with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Morningside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Morningside 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.
Morningside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Morningside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Morningside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Morningside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Morningside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Morningside 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.