Best PlacesSmiths Park, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Smiths Park, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Smiths Park ranks 11,654th 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 Smiths Park
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.
Smiths Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Smiths Park ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- Short commute20.2 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
Where Smiths Park ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Smiths Park
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Smiths Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $79,612; 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 Smiths Park's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Smiths Park
Smiths Park 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 Smiths Park.
Who works in Smiths Park, and how
Work in Smiths Park 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 4%
Life in Smiths Park
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Smiths Park.
What the weather is like in Smiths Park, month by month
Smiths Park sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 55° | 43° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Smiths Park
The nearest airport, Joe Foss Field, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 189 miles away.
The best schools in and around Smiths Park
Schools across Smiths Park average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Madison Elementary - 07B+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Madison Middle School - 02C · 35% proficient
- Chester Middle School - 03D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Madison High School - 01B− · 45% proficient
- Chester High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Smiths Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Smiths Park 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 Smiths Park against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Smiths Park
Is Smiths Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Smiths Park ranks 11,654th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, health care access, and state infrastructure, and lowest on tree cover and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Smiths Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $318,603. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $79,612 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Smiths Park safe?
Yes, Smiths Park is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $234 per resident a year.
Compare Smiths Park with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Smiths Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Smiths Park 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.
Smiths Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Smiths Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Smiths Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Smiths Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Smiths Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Smiths Park 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.