Best PlacesSturgis, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sturgis, 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.
Sturgis ranks 18,330th 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 Sturgis
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.
Sturgis' strengths and weaknesses
Where Sturgis ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
Where Sturgis ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sturgis
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sturgis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $65,177, 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 Sturgis' effective rate of 1.10%, 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 Sturgis
Sturgis 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 Sturgis.
Who works in Sturgis, and how
Work in Sturgis centers on hospitality & food and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Sturgis
Sturgis has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sturgis and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sturgis, month by month
Sturgis sees roughly 114 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 Sturgis
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 320 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sturgis
Schools across Sturgis average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Whitewood Elementary - 04A+ · 75% proficient
- Lead-deadwood Elementary - 03C− · 30% proficient
- Central Meade County School - 09D+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sturgis Williams Middle School - 02B · 45% proficient
- Lead-deadwood Middle School - 02C− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Lead-deadwood High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
- Sturgis Brown High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sturgis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sturgis 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 Sturgis against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sturgis
Is Sturgis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sturgis ranks 18,330th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, walkability, and biking, 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 Sturgis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $304,846. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $65,177 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Sturgis safe?
Yes, Sturgis is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $296 per resident a year.
Compare Sturgis with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sturgis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sturgis 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.
Sturgis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sturgis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sturgis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sturgis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sturgis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sturgis 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.