Best PlacesWhitewood, SD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Whitewood, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Whitewood ranks 16,215th 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 Whitewood
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.
Whitewood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Whitewood ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 84% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 83% of towns
Where Whitewood ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 20% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 25% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Whitewood
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Whitewood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,086, 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 Whitewood's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 Whitewood
Whitewood runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Whitewood.
Who works in Whitewood, and how
Work in Whitewood centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Whitewood
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Whitewood.
What the weather is like in Whitewood, month by month
Whitewood sees roughly 114 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 Whitewood
The nearest airport, Rapid City Regional, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 322 miles away.
The best schools in and around Whitewood
Schools across Whitewood average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Whitewood Elementary - 04A+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sturgis Williams Middle School - 02B · 45% proficient
- Spearfish Middle School - 05C− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Spearfish High School - 01B · 50% proficient
- Sturgis Brown High School - 01C− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Whitewood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Whitewood 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 Whitewood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Whitewood
Is Whitewood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Whitewood ranks 16,215th 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 disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Whitewood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $351,855. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $96,086 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Whitewood safe?
Whitewood is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $441 per resident a year.
Compare Whitewood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Whitewood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Whitewood 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.
Whitewood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Whitewood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Whitewood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Whitewood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Whitewood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Whitewood 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.