Best PlacesSully County, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Sully County, 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.
Sully County ranks 598th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sully 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.
Sully County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sully County ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 97% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 88% of counties
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 83% of counties
Where Sully County ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 1% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 28% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 29% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Sully County
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sully County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,132, 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 Sully County's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Sully County
Sully County 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 Sully County.
Who works in Sully County, and how
Work in Sully County centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sully County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sully County.
Is Sully County growing, and who is moving in?
Sully County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Hughes County, SD.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Sully County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Sully County, month by month
Sully County sees roughly 127 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 90° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 62° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Sully County
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 318 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sully County
Schools across Sully County average a C+, better than 59% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Onida Elementary - 04A+ · 75% proficient
- Highmore Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Highmore Jr. High - 03A+ · 75% proficient
- Sully Buttes Middle School - 06D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Highmore High School - 01A− · 60% proficient
- Sully Buttes High School - 07D+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sully County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sully 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 Sully County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Sully County
Is Sully County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sully County ranks 598th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and health care access, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sully County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,685. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $73,132 median income, cost of living beats 74% of counties.
Is Sully County safe?
Yes, Sully County is safer than 71% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $310 per resident a year.
Compare Sully County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sully County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sully 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.
Sully County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sully County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sully County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sully County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sully County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sully 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.