Best PlacesSidney, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sidney, 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.
Sidney ranks 11,560th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sidney
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.
Sidney's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sidney ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
Where Sidney ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,009 a month, better than only 24% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 29% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sidney
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sidney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,701, 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 Sidney's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 Sidney
Sidney's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sidney.
Who works in Sidney, and how
Work in Sidney centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Sidney
Sidney has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sidney and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sidney, month by month
Sidney sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 17° | 8° |
| April | 58° | 42° | 29° |
| July | 89° | 73° | 57° |
| October | 60° | 44° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Sidney
The nearest airport, Sidney-Richland Regional, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 543 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sidney
Schools across Sidney average a C, better than 35% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Little Powder ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Central ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Rau SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sidney Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Fairview 7-8D+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Fairview High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Sidney High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sidney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sidney 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 Sidney against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sidney
Is Sidney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sidney ranks 11,560th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and biking, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sidney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $266,828. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $74,701 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Sidney safe?
Yes, Sidney is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $358 per resident a year.
Compare Sidney with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sidney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sidney 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.
Sidney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sidney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sidney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sidney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sidney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sidney 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.