Best PlacesSpearfish, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Spearfish, 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.
Spearfish ranks 8,586th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Spearfish
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.
Spearfish's strengths and weaknesses
Where Spearfish ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute17.1 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
Where Spearfish ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 25% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Spearfish
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Spearfish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,760, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Spearfish's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 Spearfish
Spearfish'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 Spearfish.
Who works in Spearfish, and how
Work in Spearfish centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Spearfish
Spearfish has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Spearfish and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Spearfish, month by month
Spearfish sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 55° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 59° | 47° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Spearfish
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 323 miles away.
The best schools in and around Spearfish
Schools across Spearfish average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Creekside Elementary - 07B · 45% proficient
- Lead-deadwood Elementary - 03C− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Belle Fourche Middle School - 07C · 35% proficient
- Lead-deadwood Middle School - 02C− · 30% proficient
- Spearfish Middle School - 05C− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Spearfish High School - 01B · 50% proficient
- Belle Fourche High School - 01B · 50% proficient
- Lead-deadwood High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Spearfish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Spearfish 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 Spearfish against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Spearfish
Is Spearfish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Spearfish ranks 8,586th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, biking, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Spearfish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $351,949. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $76,760 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Spearfish safe?
Yes, Spearfish is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $251 per resident a year.
Compare Spearfish with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Spearfish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Spearfish 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.
Spearfish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Spearfish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Spearfish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Spearfish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Spearfish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Spearfish 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.