Best PlacesOrdway, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ordway, 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.
Ordway ranks 13,423rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ordway
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.
Ordway's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ordway ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 85% of towns
Where Ordway ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 9% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ordway
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ordway home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,811, 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 Ordway's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Ordway
Ordway runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ordway.
Who works in Ordway, and how
Work in Ordway centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ordway
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ordway.
What the weather is like in Ordway, month by month
Ordway sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 15° | 5° |
| April | 58° | 43° | 29° |
| July | 88° | 73° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 47° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Ordway
The nearest airport, Aberdeen Regional, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 260 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ordway
Schools across Ordway average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Groton Area Elementary - 02A− · 60% proficient
- Browns Valley ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Frederick Elementary - 02D+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frederick Jr. High - 03A+ · 75% proficient
- Groton Area Middle School - 04B+ · 50% proficient
- Browns Valley MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Groton Area High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Frederick High School - 01D+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ordway school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ordway 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 Ordway against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ordway
Is Ordway a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ordway ranks 13,423rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and state infrastructure, 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 Ordway expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $267,311. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $87,811 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Ordway safe?
Ordway is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $386 per resident a year.
Compare Ordway with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ordway. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ordway 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.
Ordway detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ordway: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ordway: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ordway: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ordway: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ordway 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.