Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Horse Creek on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 205.
Horse Creek has 205 residents in South Dakota. Source: Census ACS.
13th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Horse Creek, SD
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 205 residents in Horse Creek, a small town within South Dakota. The median resident age is 15.7 years. About 0.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 24.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in South Dakota run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts South Dakota at 88.6 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $990 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts South Dakota's average monthly utility costs around $200 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 26.8 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Horse Creek's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Horse Creek, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Horse Creek?
Within South Dakota, the closest population matches are Eden (206 residents); Hecla (204 residents); Tulare (206 residents, $59,375 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Deering, AK (205 residents); Golovin, AK (205 residents); Clay Springs, AZ (205 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
What does the journey to work look like in Horse Creek?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, South Dakota average
F
City profile score · Horse Creek, SD
33/100
3 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A+
88.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate F
85.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
0.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Horse Creek profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 91/100 (A+) · 88.6 index
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 85.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 0.0%
How does Horse Creek compare to other US cities?
Here's how Horse Creek stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Median rent13% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Horse Creek against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to South Dakota only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
South Dakota-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Horse Creek near the bottom of South Dakota's cities
Among the 303 South Dakota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Horse Creek ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Horse Creek only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 303
0th percentile in South Dakota
Poverty Rate
#7 of 302
98th percentile in South Dakota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#285 of 303
0th percentile in South Dakota
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within South Dakota only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Horse Creek in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)0.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)85.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)24.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
205
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
15.7
Poverty Rate
85.2%
Labor force participation
24.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
0.0%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
82.6%
Carpool
17.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 23 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
South Dakota statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $200
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across South Dakota at $200 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are South Dakota statewide averages, not a meter reading for Horse Creek. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
South Dakota's BEA cost-of-living index is 88.6 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Horse Creek is $990/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to South Dakota statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 26.8 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a South Dakota statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Horse Creek sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Horse Creek compares to similar-size South Dakota cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.