See where Sioux Fall ranks in top 10 list of places to live on $65,000 salary

Symmone Gauer, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
·2 min read

Sioux Falls was named the second-best city to live on an income of $65,000, according to a study by SmartAsset.

SmartAsset compared 104 cities in the U.S. with a population of at least 60,000 and a median household income between $60,000 and $70,000 across topics like income, employment, housing costs and access to various establishments.

A still-full fall canopy hangs overhead as Bill Pederson walks his two dogs, Pearl and Millie, through McKennan Park Thursday afternoon.
A still-full fall canopy hangs overhead as Bill Pederson walks his two dogs, Pearl and Millie, through McKennan Park Thursday afternoon.

Using data from the Census Bureau's 2020 5-year American Community Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics data from March 2022., SmartAsset used the following nine metrics for the comparison:

  • Median household income. 

  • Median monthly housing costs.

  • Housing costs as a percentage of income.

  • Entertainment establishments per 10,000 residents.

  • Civic establishments per 10,000 residents.

  • Percentage of residents without health insurance.

  • Average commute time.

  • Unemployment rate.

  • Poverty rate.

SmartAsset ranked the cities in each metric then calculated the average score to create the final ranking.

Sioux Falls, which has a median household income of $61,738, ranked in the top 10 for five of the nine metrics.

The median monthly housing cost in Sioux Falls is $946, which was the fourth-lowest out of all the cities. Sioux Falls also ranked fourth for housing costs relative to a $65,000 income at 17.46%.

The average commute time is 16.7 minutes, ranking at number six, and the Sioux Falls unemployment rate of 2.4% for March 2022 came in seventh. Additionally, Sioux Falls ranked eighth for its high concentration of 13 civic establishments for every 10,000 residents.

Sioux Falls also has a concentration of about nine entertainment establishments per 10,000 residents and a poverty rate of 10.1%, which did not make the top ten but still ranked high among the other cities.

Here are the top ten cities to live in with a salary of $65,000:

  1. Bismarck, ND

  2. Sioux Falls, SD

  3. Cheyenne, WY

  4. Billings, MT

  5. Waukesha, WI

  6. Bloomington, IL

  7. Appleton, WI

  8. Rogers, AR

  9. Madison, WI

  10. Cedar Rapids, IA

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls ranked in top ten places to live on $65,000 salary