Best PlacesSherman, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sherman, 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.
Sherman ranks 15,133rd 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 Sherman
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.
Sherman's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sherman ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 151 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
Where Sherman ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 20% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 28% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 34% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sherman
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sherman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $75,893; 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 Sherman's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Sherman
Sherman 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 Sherman.
Who works in Sherman, and how
Work in Sherman centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Sherman
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sherman.
What the weather is like in Sherman, month by month
Sherman sees roughly 151 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 9° |
| April | 58° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 61° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Sherman
The nearest airport, Joe Foss Field, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 172 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sherman
Schools across Sherman average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Garretson Elementary - 02D · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dell Rapids Middle School - 03A− · 55% proficient
- Garretson Middle School - 03C− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Dell Rapids High School - 01B+ · 55% proficient
- Garretson High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sherman school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sherman 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 Sherman against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sherman
Is Sherman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sherman ranks 15,133rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, heat safety, and the weather, 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 Sherman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $290,400. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $75,893 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Sherman safe?
Yes, Sherman is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
Compare Sherman with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sherman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sherman 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.
Sherman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sherman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sherman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sherman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sherman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sherman 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.