Best PlacesWessington Springs, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wessington Springs, 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.
Wessington Springs ranks 22,246th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wessington Springs
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.
Wessington Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Wessington Springs ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute16.2 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of towns
Where Wessington Springs ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wessington Springs
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wessington Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,251, 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 Wessington Springs' effective rate of 0.84%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wessington Springs
Wessington Springs 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 Wessington Springs.
Who works in Wessington Springs, and how
Work in Wessington Springs centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wessington Springs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wessington Springs.
What the weather is like in Wessington Springs, month by month
Wessington Springs sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 17° | 7° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 32° |
| July | 88° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 64° | 48° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Wessington Springs
The nearest airport, Pierre Regional, is about 86 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 235 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wessington Springs
Schools across Wessington Springs average a C, better than 29% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pipestone ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Wessington Springs Elementary - 02B− · 40% proficient
- White Lake Elementary - 02D+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kimball Middle School - 04B+ · 50% proficient
- Pipestone MiddleC+ · 35% proficient
- White Lake Middle School - 03D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Wessington Springs High School Cyber School - 92A · 75% proficient
- Wessington Springs High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
- Wolsey Wessington High School - 01C+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wessington Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wessington Springs 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 Wessington Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wessington Springs
Is Wessington Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wessington Springs ranks 22,246th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, low taxes, and short commutes, 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 Wessington Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $132,341. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $61,251 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Wessington Springs safe?
Wessington Springs is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $408 per resident a year.
Compare Wessington Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wessington Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wessington Springs 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.
Wessington Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wessington Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wessington Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wessington Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wessington Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wessington Springs 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.