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Place dossier plate
SheetSD-HOT-SPRINGS-SD · Hot Springs, SD 3,506 pop · income 19th pct · 2 tracts
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.
Income neighbourhood around Hot Springs
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hot Springs on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Laureles · lowest
45,640
Laureles · lowest
45,640 median HH income
36.1% of the leader · rank #1
Hot Springs · this city
49,688
Hot Springs · this city
49,688 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #2
Mount Olive C… · near
49,688
Mount Olive C… · near
49,688 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #3
Tidmore Bend · near
49,688
Tidmore Bend · near
49,688 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #4
Kearny · near
49,688
Kearny · near
49,688 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #5
Roosevelt Est… · near
49,688
Roosevelt Est… · near
49,688 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #6
Durham · highest
126,406
Durham · highest
126,406 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Hot Springs on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 3,506.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hot Springs - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Hot Springs places in the 19th percentile for household income and the 95th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
19th
percentile, household income
33rd
percentile, home value
13th
percentile, median rent
95th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Hot Springs, SD
Hot Springs is a small town in South Dakota, home to 3,506 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Hot Springs brings in $49,688 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 26.2%. Typical homes in Hot Springs are valued around $168,200, and the median resident age is 59.3 years. 18.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 46.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 9 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Slowing), down 10% from five years earlier. Hot Springs reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 217.0 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Hot Springs's yearly average temperature at 48.6°F with 18.6 inches of precipitation per year and 32.0 inches of snowfall.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in South Dakota run around $200, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Hot Springs'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 to population change to housing and income to reported crime to climate and hazard context to within-city variation to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hot Springs, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Hot Springs?
Within South Dakota, the closest population matches are Milbank (3,513 residents, $58,462 income); Hartford (3,412 residents, $95,426 income); Dell Rapids (3,947 residents, $101,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Buckhorn, CA (3,506 residents); Holden Lakes, FL (3,506 residents); Riverton, IL (3,506 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What does the journey to work look like in Hot Springs?
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 80.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Is Hot Springs growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +274 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +8.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 9 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can 2 Census tracts reveal inside Hot Springs?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Hot Springs?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 26.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$49,688
Home value
$168,200
Value / income
3.4×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hot Springs?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 217.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 90% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
27.1
Violent rate
189.9
Total reported rate
217.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What physical conditions frame life in Hot Springs?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 48.6°F, with 18.6 inches of precipitation and 32.0 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for South Dakota is 26.8 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
48.6°F
Annual precipitation
18.6 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
26.8
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What does the education layer cover for Hot Springs?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 18.2% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
18.2%
Poverty estimate
26.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Low income · poverty 26.2% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.6 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, South Dakota average
F
City profile score · Hot Springs, SD
38/100
5 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.
Violent crime D
190 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
18.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$49,688
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
26.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Hot Springs profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 91/100 (A+) · 88.6 index
Violent crime: 49/100 (D) · 190 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 29/100 (F) · 18.2%
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $49,688
Poverty rate: 5/100 (F) · 26.2%
Where Hot Springs sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hot Springs's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Hot Springs highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Hot Springs, SD (this city): home $168,200, crime 217/100k
Riverton, IL : home $140,000, crime 1,244/100k
North Sioux City, SD : home $234,500, crime 1,673/100k
Lead, SD : home $192,800, crime 557/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Hot Springs compare to other US cities?
Hot Springs measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income19% higher than other cities
Home value33% pricier than other cities
Median rent13% pricier than other cities
Safety95% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at South Dakota, Hot Springs ranks #4 of 34 South Dakota cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Hot Springs 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 Hot Springs near the bottom of South Dakota's cities
Among the 303 South Dakota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hot Springs ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hot Springs only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#222 of 285
22nd percentile in South Dakota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 303
0th percentile in South Dakota
Median Home Value
#87 of 263
67th percentile in South Dakota
Poverty Rate
#43 of 302
86th percentile in South Dakota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#172 of 303
42nd 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.
Gauge source note
19th percentile nationally for median household income · 95th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hot Springs's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hot Springs's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Hot Springs's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$168,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 67% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Hot Springs's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,515 of 15,516
More affordable than 45% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,918 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.4×, Hot Springs sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,515 of 15,516 and #6,918 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$49,688Hot Springs, SD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hot Springs, SD median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Hot Springs, SD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)18.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)26.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,506
Median Income
$49,688
Median Home Value
$168,200
Median Age
59.3
Poverty Rate
26.2%
Labor force participation
46.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
18.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
217.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
189.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
27.1
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
48.6°F
Annual Precipitation
18.6"
Annual Snowfall
32.0"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Hot Springs's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,396 residents
2021
3,518 residents
2022
3,607 residents
2023
3,608 residents
2024
3,640 residents
2025
3,670 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
9
housing units authorized
Single-Family
9
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
10
10
0
$1.1M
2020
11
11
0
$1.2M
2021
13
13
0
$1.4M
2022
10
10
0
$1.1M
2023
10
10
0
$1.1M
2024
9
9
0
$1.0M
Permit volume decreased 10% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.3%
Carpool
0.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
7.0%
Work from Home
9.0%
Other
3.4%
Based on 1,309 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 Hot Springs. 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 Hot Springs 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 Hot Springs sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hot Springs 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.