Best PlacesRoy, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Roy, 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.
Roy ranks 15,865th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Roy
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.
Roy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Roy ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute16.6 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of towns
Where Roy ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Roy
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Roy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,000, 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 Roy's effective rate of 1.23%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Roy
Roy 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 Roy.
Who works in Roy, and how
Work in Roy centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Roy
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Roy.
What the weather is like in Roy, month by month
Roy sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 90° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 62° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Roy
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 320 miles away.
The best schools in and around Roy
Schools across Roy average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Onida Elementary - 04A+ · 75% proficient
- Hoven Elementary - 02A+ · 75% proficient
- Browns Valley ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gettysburg Middle School - 03B− · 40% proficient
- Browns Valley MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- Hoven Jr. High - 03D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Gettysburg High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Sully Buttes High School - 07D+ · 25% proficient
- Hoven High School - 01D+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Roy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Roy 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 Roy against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Roy
Is Roy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Roy ranks 15,865th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Roy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $112,500. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $78,000 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Roy safe?
Roy is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $328 per resident a year.
Compare Roy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Roy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Roy 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.
Roy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Roy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Roy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Roy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Roy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Roy 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.