Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Brookings is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B+ overall, 17th among South Dakota's 35 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 84% of the country. It also does better than most on safety: crime is low: it reports less per resident than 60% of U.S. towns. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its schools rank behind 60% of the state's. A typical home there costs about $326K, 4.6 years of the Brookings area’s $70K median household income. 63% of working residents work locally in Brookings, where South Dakota’s towns sit at 29% and U.S. towns at 8%. Its National Register listings include Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Depot and Brookings County Courthouse. Only 5 of South Dakota’s 85 towns score higher on the outdoors.
Where Brookings beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,518 in 1890, 23,377 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 2 maps from 1964 on.
29 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within South Dakota), ordered by how far Brookings is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Brookings, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Brookings.
Brookings is shaped by its college students, draws workers from Sioux Falls and beyond and fares better on crime within South Dakota than nationally.
15,183 jobs are based in Brookings, 1.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
The average trip to work in Brookings is 13 minutes. Jobs based in Brookings grew to 15,183 in 2023, 1,465 more than in 2013. 17% of Brookings residents live below the poverty line.
| Brookings | South Dakota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 13 minutes | 17 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $72,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 10% | 6.5% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Brookings School District 05-1. Two of its 11 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| George S. Mickelson Middle School - 02Largest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 780 | C+ |
| Brookings High School - 01Largest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 979 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within SD on state tests and graduation
22% of adults binge drink in Brookings. Brookings beats the South Dakota average on 12 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 24% of adults have high blood pressure in Brookings.
| Brookings | South Dakota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 19% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 32% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 73% | 76% | 79% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 7.8% | 10% | 12% |
| What stands out | Brookings | SD |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 2.3% | 3.5% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 4.5% | 6.8% |
| More binge drinkers | 22.1% | 18.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
6.2 miles of trail in 22 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Dakota Nature Park, at 145 acres.
| Brookings | South Dakota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5.7% | 3.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Douglas Chittick Community Gardens | 1.4 mi | 76 |
| 2. McCrory Gardens | 1 mi | 70 |
| 3. Dakota Nature Park | 0.4 mi | 145 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Brookings has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Brookings’ July high is 82°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 65% of U.S. communities. Since 1980, 14 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Brookings.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 14.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 73% of South Dakota’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 28 reported in 2025, 1.1 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Among 35 South Dakota towns, just 1 have a lower share of households owning their home than Brookings. Typical home values rose 5.4% in the year to September 2026.
| Brookings | South Dakota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 48% | 68% | 73% |
| Median rent | $889 a month | $963 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Brookings
College town 29 of every 100 Brookings residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across South Dakota.
29 places in Brookings on the National Register of Historic Places.
15 notable people were born in Brookings.
4 towns share a border with Brookings.
| Town | SD rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brookings · Brookings Township | #17 | B+ | C+ | B | C+ | A− |
| Aurora Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Medary Township | — | — | B− | — | C+ | A− |
| Trenton Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Medary Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Medary Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Aurora Township and Trenton Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Brookings Township and Brookings are one community, graded once. Compare Brookings with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Brookings grades B+ overall, better than 66% of U.S. towns and #17 of 35 in South Dakota. It grades A− for health, B for safety and C+ for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
15 notable people were born here, including Gene Okerlund and Jim Weaver.
