Best PlacesSt. Lawrence, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Lawrence, 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.
St. Lawrence ranks 20,296th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in St. Lawrence
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.
St. Lawrence's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Lawrence ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute13.0 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of towns
Where St. Lawrence ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 27% of towns
- Household income$60,760 median, better than only 29% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Lawrence
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Lawrence home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,760, 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 St. Lawrence's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in St. Lawrence
St. Lawrence 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 St. Lawrence.
Who works in St. Lawrence, and how
Work in St. Lawrence centers on agriculture & forestry 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 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in St. Lawrence
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across St. Lawrence.
What the weather is like in St. Lawrence, month by month
St. Lawrence sees roughly 122 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 St. Lawrence
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 68 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 271 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Lawrence
Schools across St. Lawrence average a C+, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Miller Elementary - 02A− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Miller Jr. High - 04D · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Miller High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Lawrence school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Lawrence 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 St. Lawrence against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Lawrence
Is St. Lawrence a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Lawrence ranks 20,296th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, short commutes, and low taxes, 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 St. Lawrence expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $129,073. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $60,760 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is St. Lawrence safe?
St. Lawrence is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $379 per resident a year.
Compare St. Lawrence with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Lawrence. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Lawrence 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.
St. Lawrence detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Lawrence: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Lawrence: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Lawrence: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Lawrence: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Lawrence 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.