Best PlacesVale, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Vale, 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.
Vale ranks 30,826th 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 Vale
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.
Vale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Vale ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap childcare$569 a month, better than 83% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 106 pleasant days a year, better than 72% of towns
Where Vale ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Vale
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,769, 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 Vale's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Vale
Vale runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Vale.
Who works in Vale, and how
Work in Vale centers on agriculture & forestry and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Vale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Vale.
What the weather is like in Vale, month by month
Vale sees roughly 106 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 Vale
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 335 miles away.
The best schools in and around Vale
Schools across Vale average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Whitewood Elementary - 04A+ · 75% proficient
- Newell Elementary - 02D+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sturgis Williams Middle School - 02B · 45% proficient
- Newell Middle School - 04F · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Newell High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Sturgis Brown High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Vale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Vale 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 Vale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Vale
Is Vale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vale ranks 30,826th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, state infrastructure, and a strong job market, 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 Vale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $256,040. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $74,769 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Vale safe?
Vale is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $453 per resident a year.
Compare Vale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vale 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.
Vale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vale 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.