Best Cities in South Dakota for Schools

Welcome to SchoolDigger, your premier source for city-wide school rankings! Our user-friendly platform focuses on test scores, presenting a transparent, data-driven comparison to help you navigate the educational scene. Explore top-rated cities in South Dakota and make informed decisions for your child's academic future. With our comprehensive database, uncover the best-performing schools within each city, evaluate their performance, and gain valuable insights. Trust SchoolDigger.com to guide you in finding the perfect city for your child's education. Embark on your journey to academic success right here!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish South Dakota test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the test scores by the South Dakota Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 17, 2024.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

Rank (of 156)	City	# Elementary Schools	# Middle Schools	# High Schools	# Alt. Schools	# Private Schools*	Rank score (2024)	Rank (2023)	Rank change from 2023
1^st	Hoven	1	1	1	0	0	0.993		(n/a)
2^nd	Warner	1	1	1	0	0	0.979	2
3^rd	Worthing	1	0	0	0	0	0.97	63	60
4^th	Brandon	2	2	1	0	0	0.933	8	4
5^th	Bridgewater	2	0	0	0	0	0.93	15	10
6^th	Kadoka	1	1	1	0	0	0.92	10	4
7^th	Lennox	1	2	1	0	0	0.918	4	3
8^th	Whitewood	2	0	0	0	0	0.91	1	7
9^th	Gettysburg	1	1	1	0	0	0.906	13	4
10^th	Timber Lake	1	1	1	0	0	0.903	6	4
11^th	Corsica	1	2	2	0	1	0.894	40	29
12^th	Ethan	2	1	2	0	0	0.89	3	9
13^th	Frederick	1	1	1	0	0	0.886	23	10
14^th	Ipswich	2	1	1	0	0	0.88	22	8
15^th	Alexandria	3	1	1	0	0	0.863	5	10
16^th	Arlington	2	1	2	0	0	0.847	41	25
17^th	Howard	1	1	1	0	0	0.847	11	6
18^th	Mount Vernon	1	1	1	0	0	0.812	25	7
19^th	Lake Preston	1	1	1	0	0	0.773	67	48
20^th	North Sioux City	2	1	1	0	0	0.76	29	9
21^st	Groton	1	1	1	0	0	0.757	12	9
22^nd	Baltic	1	1	1	0	0	0.752	44	22
23^rd	Piedmont	1	0	0	0	0	0.746	31	8
24^th	Custer	1	1	2	0	0	0.746	57	33
25^th	Dell Rapids	1	1	1	0	2	0.741	21	4
26^th	Tyndall	1	1	1	0	0	0.74	35	9
27^th	Herreid	1	1	1	0	0	0.729	62	35
28^th	Montrose	2	1	1	0	0	0.72	28
29^th	Pierre	6	1	1	0	1	0.718	53	24
30^th	Webster	1	1	1	0	0	0.718	24	6
31^st	Murdo	1	1	1	0	0	0.718	14	17
32^nd	Faith	2	1	1	0	0	0.716	120	88
33^rd	Milbank	2	1	1	0	1	0.714	30	3
34^th	Eureka	1	1	1	0	0	0.703	55	21
35^th	Springfield	1	0	0	0	0	0.701		(n/a)
36^th	Highmore	1	1	1	0	0	0.7	90	54
37^th	Tea	2	1	1	0	0	0.69	19	18
38^th	Parkston	2	1	2	0	0	0.686	32	6
39^th	Faulkton	5	1	2	0	0	0.684	9	30
40^th	Hayti	1	1	1	0	0	0.68	49	9
41^st	Mitchell	6	1	3	0	2	0.67	51	10
42^nd	Canton	1	1	2	0	0	0.669	65	23
43^rd	Miller	2	1	1	0	1	0.666	59	16
44^th	Volga	1	1	1	0	1	0.663	56	12
45^th	Sturgis	1	1	1	1	0	0.66	27	18
46^th	Freeman	1	1	1	0	1	0.642	68	22
47^th	Humboldt	1	0	0	0	0	0.637	46	1
48^th	Willow Lake	2	1	2	0	0	0.636	121	73
49^th	Irene	0	1	1	0	0	0.627	79	30
50^th	Selby	1	1	1	0	0	0.626	52	2
51^st	Onida	1	1	1	0	0	0.625	37	14
52^nd	Mellette	1	2	2	0	0	0.625	71	19
53^rd	Burke	1	1	2	0	0	0.618	33	20
54^th	Platte	2	1	1	0	0	0.617	36	18
55^th	Castlewood	2	1	1	0	0	0.614	38	17
56^th	Clear Lake	1	1	1	0	0	0.613	76	20
57^th	Canistota	1	1	1	0	0	0.601	39	18
58^th	Toronto	1	0	0	0	0	0.597	117	59
59^th	Spearfish	3	3	3	0	2	0.596	58	1
60^th	Gregory	1	1	1	0	0	0.585	69	9
61^st	Hill City	1	1	1	0	0	0.584	64	3
62^nd	Kimball	2	1	2	0	0	0.584	48	14
63^rd	Centerville	1	1	1	0	0	0.581	42	21
64^th	Elk Point	1	1	1	0	0	0.577	45	19
65^th	Waubay	2	1	1	0	0	0.572	96	31
66^th	Mobridge	2	1	1	0	1	0.562	70	4
67^th	Armour	1	1	1	0	0	0.561	106	39
68^th	Emery	1	1	1	0	0	0.557	87	19
69^th	Watertown	5	2	2	0	4	0.554	47	22
70^th	Wall	2	1	1	0	0	0.543	95	25
71^st	Madison	2	1	1	0	2	0.542	66	5
72^nd	Yankton	4	2	1	0	3	0.534	74	2
73^rd	Forestburg	1	1	1	0	0	0.527	34	39
74^th	Hitchcock	1	0	0	0	0	0.522	17	57
75^th	Lemmon	1	1	1	0	0	0.514	94	19
76^th	Sioux Falls	36	10	15	4	19	0.512	83	7
77^th	Langford	1	1	1	0	0	0.502	73	4
78^th	Vermillion	2	1	1	0	1	0.496	80	2
79^th	Colton	1	1	1	0	0	0.492	60	19
80^th	Summerset	0	1	0	0	0	0.49	50	30
81^st	Hartford	1	1	1	0	0	0.489	26	55
82^nd	Harrisburg	2	1	1	0	0	0.487	72	10
83^rd	Buffalo	1	1	1	0	0	0.474	43	40
84^th	Viborg	2	0	1	0	0	0.471	103	19
85^th	Lead	0	1	1	0	0	0.47	105	20
86^th	De Smet	1	1	1	0	0	0.465	84	2
87^th	Aberdeen	7	2	4	0	9	0.453	78	9
88^th	Redfield	1	2	3	0	0	0.45	132	44
89^th	Britton	3	1	2	0	0	0.446	102	13
90^th	Chester	1	1	3	0	0	0.445	81	9
91^st	Avon	1	1	1	0	0	0.438	20	71
92^nd	White	3	1	1	0	0	0.434	18	74
93^rd	Edgemont	1	0	1	0	0	0.433	86	7
94^th	Brookings	4	1	1	0	1	0.426	91	3
95^th	Beresford	1	1	1	0	0	0.41	143	48
96^th	Colome	1	1	1	0	0	0.409	93	3
97^th	Bison	1	1	1	0	0	0.408	134	37
98^th	Estelline	1	1	1	0	1	0.406	77	21
99^th	Menno	1	1	1	0	0	0.399	89	10
100^th	Newell	1	1	1	0	0	0.397	142	42
101^st	Marion	1	1	1	0	0	0.391	123	22
102^nd	Philip	2	1	1	0	0	0.39	61	41
103^rd	Chamberlain	1	1	2	0	1	0.39	118	15
104^th	Parker	1	1	1	0	0	0.382	88	16
105^th	Hot Springs	1	1	1	0	1	0.372	85	20
106^th	New Underwood	1	1	1	0	0	0.363	111	5
107^th	Garretson	1	1	1	0	0	0.36	130	23
108^th	Box Elder	2	1	1	0	0	0.356	82	26
109^th	Wagner	1	1	1	0	0	0.355	115	6
110^th	Woonsocket	1	0	1	0	0	0.351	92	18
111^th	Plankinton	1	3	3	0	0	0.346	97	14
112^th	Kennebec	1	0	0	0	0	0.343	122	10
113^th	Colman	1	1	1	0	0	0.332	116	3
114^th	Tulare	0	1	1	0	0	0.328	141	27
115^th	White Lake	1	1	1	0	0	0.328	139	24
116^th	Rapid City	14	5	4	2	12	0.32	112	4
117^th	Wolsey	1	1	1	0	0	0.319	147	30
118^th	Salem	2	1	1	0	1	0.309	107	11
119^th	Deadwood	1	0	0	0	0	0.308	131	12
120^th	Scotland	3	1	1	0	0	0.298	138	18
121^st	Belle Fourche	2	1	2	0	0	0.296	110	11
122^nd	Rosholt	2	1	1	0	0	0.28	109	13
123^rd	Hurley	0	1	0	0	0	0.279	75	48
124^th	Alcester	1	1	1	0	0	0.271	101	23
125^th	Fort Pierre	1	1	1	0	0	0.265	127	2
126^th	Clark	2	1	1	0	0	0.265	125	1
127^th	Winner	1	1	1	0	0	0.262	136	9
128^th	Florence	1	1	1	0	0	0.25	114	14
129^th	Gayville	1	1	1	0	0	0.239	113	16
130^th	Renner	1	0	0	0	0	0.239	140	10
131^st	Presho	0	1	1	0	0	0.227	108	23
132^nd	Elkton	2	1	1	0	0	0.226	126	6
133^rd	Huron	5	1	3	0	2	0.217	129	4
134^th	Summit	2	0	1	0	0	0.207	104	30
135^th	Wakonda	1	0	0	0	0	0.199	98	37
136^th	Hermosa	2	1	0	0	0	0.184	100	36
137^th	Mc Intosh	1	1	1	0	0	0.183	124	13
138^th	Wakpala	1	1	1	0	0	0.179	146	8
139^th	Flandreau	2	1	2	0	0	0.173	145	6
140^th	Waverly	1	1	1	0	0	0.169	133	7
141^st	Iroquois	2	2	1	0	1	0.167	150	9
142^nd	Martin	1	1	1	0	0	0.162	151	9
143^rd	Sisseton	1	1	1	0	0	0.159	149	6
144^th	Wilmot	1	1	1	0	0	0.154	148	4
145^th	Wessington Springs	3	2	2	0	0	0.119	99	46
146^th	Henry	1	1	1	0	0	0.111	128	18
147^th	Black Hawk	1	0	0	0	0	0.095	153	6
148^th	Lake Andes	2	1	1	0	0	0.084	119	29
149^th	White River	1	1	1	0	0	0.073	154	5
150^th	Dupree	1	1	1	0	0	0.056	152	2
151^st	Roscoe	2	1	1	0	0	0.045	135	16
152^nd	Mission	1	2	2	1	1	0.02	156	4
153^rd	Eagle Butte	2	2	2	1	1	0.011	159	6
154^th	Mc Laughlin	1	1	1	0	0	0.01	157	3
155^th	Batesland	1	0	1	0	0	0.007		(n/a)
156^th	Parmelee	1	0	0	0	0	0.007		(n/a)

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About our rankings:

* Private schools are not used in determining city rank.
Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on test scores released by the South Dakota Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 17, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the South Dakota Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the South Dakota Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

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Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the South Dakota Department of Education.