Best PlacesVan Order, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Van Order, 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.
Van Order ranks 26,428th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Van Order
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.
Van Order's strengths and weaknesses
Where Van Order ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 128 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of towns
- Cheap childcare$569 a month, better than 83% of towns
Where Van Order ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Van Order
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Van Order home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,979, 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 Van Order's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Van Order
Van Order 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 Van Order.
Who works in Van Order, and how
Work in Van Order centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Van Order
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Van Order.
What the weather is like in Van Order, month by month
Van Order sees roughly 128 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 Van Order
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 278 miles away.
The best schools in and around Van Order
Schools across Van Order average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Miller Elementary - 02A− · 60% proficient
- Highmore Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Highmore Jr. High - 03A+ · 75% proficient
- Miller Jr. High - 04D · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Highmore High School - 01A− · 60% proficient
- Miller High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Van Order school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Van Order 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 Van Order against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Van Order
Is Van Order a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Van Order ranks 26,428th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Van Order expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,879. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $74,979 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Van Order safe?
Van Order is safer than 29% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $430 per resident a year.
Compare Van Order with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Van Order. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Van Order 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.
Van Order detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Van Order: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Van Order: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Van Order: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Van Order: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Van Order 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.