Best PlacesSpink County, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Spink County, 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.
Spink County ranks 1,133rd of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Spink County
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.
Spink County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Spink County ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 97% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of counties
- Short commute17.1 minutes each way, better than 90% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 88% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 83% of counties
Where Spink County ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 17% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Spink County
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Spink County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,250, 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 Spink County's effective rate of 1.07%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Spink County
Spink County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Spink County.
Who works in Spink County, and how
Work in Spink County centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Spink County
Spink County has more parkland per resident than 95% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Spink County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Spink County growing, and who is moving in?
Spink County has lost about 8% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Brown County, SD.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Spink County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Spink County, month by month
Spink County sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 17° | 7° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 32° |
| July | 88° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 64° | 48° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Spink County
The nearest airport, Aberdeen Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 254 miles away.
The best schools in and around Spink County
Schools across Spink County average a C−, better than 17% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Warner Elementary - 02A− · 60% proficient
- Hendricks ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Northwestern Elementary - 04B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hitchcock-tulare Jr. High School - 02A+ · 75% proficient
- Warner Middle School - 03B− · 40% proficient
- Browns Valley MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Hendricks Senior HighA · 75% proficient
- Hitchcock-tulare High School - 01A− · 60% proficient
- Northwestern High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Spink County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Spink County 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 Spink County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Spink County
Is Spink County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Spink County ranks 1,133rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low taxes, clean air, and short commutes, 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 Spink County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $125,803. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $72,250 median income, cost of living beats 83% of counties.
Is Spink County safe?
Spink County is safer than 41% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $397 per resident a year.
Compare Spink County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Spink County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Spink County 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.
Spink County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Spink County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Spink County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Spink County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Spink County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Spink County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.