Best PlacesVivian, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Vivian, 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.
Vivian ranks 18,226th 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 Vivian
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.
Vivian's strengths and weaknesses
Where Vivian 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 143 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Short commute20.9 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
Where Vivian ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 11% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Vivian
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vivian home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,714, 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 Vivian's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Vivian
Vivian runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Vivian.
Who works in Vivian, and how
Work in Vivian centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Vivian
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Vivian.
What the weather is like in Vivian, month by month
Vivian sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 21° | 13° |
| April | 59° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 89° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 63° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Vivian
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 289 miles away.
The best schools in and around Vivian
Schools across Vivian average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lyman Elementary - 04D+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Newcastle Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Jones County Middle School - 04B+ · 50% proficient
- Lyman Middle School - 02F · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Jones County High School - 01A · 75% proficient
- Hendricks Senior HighA · 75% proficient
- Newcastle High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Vivian school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Vivian 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 Vivian against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Vivian
Is Vivian a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vivian ranks 18,226th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low taxes, and state infrastructure, 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 Vivian expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,857. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $80,714 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Vivian safe?
Vivian is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $425 per resident a year.
Compare Vivian with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vivian. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vivian 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.
Vivian detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vivian: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vivian: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vivian: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vivian: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vivian 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.