Best PlacesOldham, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oldham, 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.
Oldham ranks 30,252nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oldham
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.
Oldham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oldham ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 126 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
- Cheap childcare$580 a month, better than 81% of towns
Where Oldham ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 22% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oldham
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oldham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,538, 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 Oldham's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Oldham
Oldham 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 Oldham.
Who works in Oldham, and how
Work in Oldham centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Oldham
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oldham.
What the weather is like in Oldham, month by month
Oldham sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 55° | 43° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Oldham
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 207 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oldham
Schools across Oldham average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shannon Colony Elementary - 08A+ · 75% proficient
- Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary - 02A− · 60% proficient
- Arlington Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oldham-ramona Jr. High - 03D+ · 25% proficient
- De Smet Middle School - 03D+ · 25% proficient
- Lake Preston Middle School - 03D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Howard High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- De Smet High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Arlington High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oldham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oldham 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 Oldham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oldham
Is Oldham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oldham ranks 30,252nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, state infrastructure, and clean air, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oldham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $187,211. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $62,538 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Oldham safe?
Oldham is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $402 per resident a year.
Compare Oldham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oldham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oldham 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.
Oldham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oldham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oldham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oldham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oldham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oldham 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.