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Place dossier plate
SheetSD-MOUNTAIN-PLAINS-SD · Mountain Plains, SD 412 pop · income 96th pct
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 Mountain Plains
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mountain Plains on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Martin · lowest
22,569
Martin · lowest
22,569 median HH income
13.5% of the leader · rank #1
Watchung · near
166,536
Watchung · near
166,536 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Mountain Plai… · this city
166,641
Mountain Plai… · this city
166,641 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Tano Road · near
166,649
Tano Road · near
166,649 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #4
Alta · near
166,667
Alta · near
166,667 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #5
Mountain Mead… · highest
166,761
Mountain Mead… · highest
166,761 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Mountain Plains 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: 412.
Mountain Plains ranks in the 96th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
96th
percentile, household income
89th
percentile, home value
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: Mountain Plains, SD
Mountain Plains is a small town in South Dakota, home to 412 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Mountain Plains report a median income of $166,641 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Mountain Plains's housing stock carries a median value of $606,100, and the median resident age is 62.6 years. 44.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 60.0% 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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $990 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $200 across South Dakota, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. The average commute for Mountain Plains workers runs 16.8 minutes, with 95.5% driving alone and 4.5% working from home. 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 Mountain Plains'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 housing and income to 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 Mountain Plains, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Mountain Plains?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Mountain Plains?
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.
Within South Dakota, the closest population matches are Lake Poinsett (413 residents, $101,136 income); Anderson (406 residents, $143,705 income); Bison (419 residents, $62,273 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hayden, AZ (412 residents); Wenden, AZ (412 residents); Plumas Eureka, CA (412 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Mountain Plains?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 95.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 16.8 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Top-decile income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.6 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, South Dakota average
A+
City profile score · Mountain Plains, SD
94/100
4 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.
Household income A+
$166,641
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Bachelor's+ share B+
44.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Mountain Plains profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $166,641
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 91/100 (A+) · 88.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 79/100 (B+) · 44.4%
How does Mountain Plains compare to other US cities?
Mountain Plains measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income96% higher than other cities
Home value89% pricier than other cities
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 Mountain Plains 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 Mountain Plains near the bottom of South Dakota's cities
Among the 303 South Dakota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mountain Plains ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mountain Plains only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#2 of 285
99th percentile in South Dakota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 303
0th percentile in South Dakota
Median Home Value
#2 of 263
99th percentile in South Dakota
Poverty Rate
#254 of 302
0th percentile in South Dakota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#10 of 303
97th 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
96th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Mountain Plains's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$606,10011th percentilemore affordable than 11% 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
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,502 of 15,516
More affordable than 39% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,595 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Mountain Plains sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,502 of 15,516 and #7,595 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
$166,641Mountain Plains, SD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mountain Plains, 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 Mountain Plains, SD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)44.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
412
Median Income
$166,641
Median Home Value
$606,100
Median Age
62.6
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
60.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
44.4%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
16.8 minutes
Drive Alone
95.5%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
4.5%
Based on 247 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 Mountain Plains. 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 Mountain Plains 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 Mountain Plains sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mountain Plains 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.