Best PlacesRapid City, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Rapid City metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Rapid City ranks 205th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It earns the spot by being affordable and steady rather than flashy: everyday costs run well below the national average, and crime is low. The trade is distance from a big city: the nearest large city and its jobs, flights, and culture are a drive away.
The best neighborhoods in the Rapid City metro
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.
The best areas in Rapid City
The towns and districts of the Rapid City metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Rapid Valley
More households have young kids, fewer homes sit empty, and prices have run up less.
Sturgis & Summerset
Schools score higher and tree cover is thicker.
Box Elder & Ellsworth AFB
It is quieter, though health care is harder to reach.
Custer & Hill City
Disaster risk is higher and commutes are longer.
Downtown Rapid City
Biking is better, though incomes run lower.
Black Hawk
Crime runs higher and fewer adults hold degrees.
Rapid City shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 8% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Rapid City's strengths and weaknesses
Rapid City lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low taxes is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. A strong job market and state infrastructure follow.
The one real hole is distance from a big city, near the bottom of the country. The schools and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Rapid City ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 96% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 86% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$687 a month, better than 81% of metro areas
Where Rapid City ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- School gradeC−, better than only 13% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 21% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Rapid City
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rapid City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $79,110; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Rapid City's effective rate of 0.97%, 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 Rapid City
Rapid City's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Rapid City.
Who works in Rapid City, and how
Work in Rapid City centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Rapid City
Rapid City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 80% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rapid City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Rapid City growing, and who is moving in?
Rapid City has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Sioux Falls, SD.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Rapid City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Rapid City, month by month
Rapid City sees roughly 108 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 Rapid City
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 300 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rapid City
Schools across Rapid City average a C−, better than 13% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Hill City Elementary - 02B · 50% proficient
- Corral Drive Elementary - 21B · 45% proficient
- Pinedale Elementary - 11B · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Newcastle Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Southwest Middle School - 38B+ · 50% proficient
- Hill City Middle School - 04B+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Stevens High School - 42A · 67% proficient
- Douglas High School - 03B · 50% proficient
- Central High School - 41B · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rapid City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rapid City 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 Rapid City against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Rapid City suits
Families
Schools land around the 13th percentile and crime safety beats 79%.
Common questions about living in Rapid City
Is Rapid City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rapid City ranks 205th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low taxes, a strong job market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rapid City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $324,856. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $79,110 median income, cost of living beats 57% of metro areas.
Is Rapid City safe?
Yes, Rapid City is safer than 79% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $312 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rapid City?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 14. That works out to about 108 pleasant days a year, more than 65% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Rapid City?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Rapid Valley, Sturgis & Summerset, and Box Elder & Ellsworth AFB. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Rapid City good for families?
Schools beat 13% of metro areas, crime safety beats 79%, and childcare runs $687 a month.
Is Rapid City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 57% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 21% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Rapid City with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rapid City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rapid City 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.
Rapid City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rapid City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rapid City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rapid City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rapid City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rapid City 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.