Best PlacesOpal, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Opal, 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.
Opal ranks 34,505th 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 Opal
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.
Opal's strengths and weaknesses
Where Opal ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute15.6 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
Where Opal ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
Who lives in Opal
Opal 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 Opal.
Who works in Opal, and how
Work in Opal centers on agriculture & forestry and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 53%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Opal
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Opal.
What the weather is like in Opal, month by month
Opal sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 26° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 44° | 31° |
| July | 90° | 75° | 60° |
| October | 65° | 48° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Opal
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 340 miles away.
The best schools in and around Opal
Schools across Opal average a B−, better than 52% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Sturgis Williams Middle School - 02B · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Sturgis Brown High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Opal school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Opal 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 Opal against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Opal
Is Opal a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Opal ranks 34,505th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, quiet, and short commutes, 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 Opal safe?
Opal is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Opal?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 14. That works out to about 96 pleasant days a year, more than 65% of towns.
Compare Opal with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Opal. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Opal 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.
Opal detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Opal: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Opal: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Opal: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Opal: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Opal 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.
- 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.