Which Two Small South Dakota Cities Rank Among the Best?

WalletHub has taken a look at the best small cities in America and two South Dakota cities made the cut.

Rapid City landed in the 30th percentile range with cities like Jamestown, New York, Wilkes-Barre, PA, and Brighton, Colorado.

Aberdeen ranked in the 46th percentile range with cities like Beverly Hills, California (yes it is considered to be a small city), Auburn, Washington, and Blue Springs, Missouri. 

To come up with the small city rankings, the number-crunching gurus looked at 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000, comparing them in five major areas, which are:

• Affordability - This category examined median incomes, the cost of living in the city in general, and more specifically - homeownership rates, and the housing costs that come with it.
• Economic health - which took into account people living below the poverty rate, unemployment numbers, bankruptcy and foreclosure rates, population, and income growth
• Education & health - they looked at high school graduation rates, school system quality, number of individuals with health insurance coverage, quality of individual's health, premature death rates, physical activity, and obesity
• Quality of life issues - dealt with everything from commute times and hours worked per week to the number of bars & restaurants, fitness centers, and department stores available to community members.
• Safety - this category looked at violent and property crime rates as well as motor vehicle crash rates.

The data they used came from sources like the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the FBI, and more.

The top 5 small cities in the country are:

1. Zionsville, Indiana
2. Westfield, Indiana
3. Sammamish, Washington
4. Redmond, Washington
5. Reading, Massachusetts

To see the complete study, go to WalletHub

Source: WalletHub