Bridgewater, South Dakota.
Typical home $248,128 (+6.8% in a year). Sioux Falls, SD metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$117 (+10%) since Nov 2023.
- 1 year
- Up $15,691 +7%
- $232,438$248,128 since Sep 2025
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Bridgewater$1,302
- South Dakota$1,668
- United States$1,922
Typical home values in Bridgewater, SD rose 6.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Bridgewater, McCook County, South Dakota
Bridgewater is a city of 511 people in McCook County. Unemployment in McCook County was 1.8% in August 2026, and the county had 4.9% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in McCook County work in schools and health care, then farming.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Bridgewater is a very small city in McCook County, South Dakota, where neighbors tend to know one another. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month and highs staying below freezing, while summers turn warm in July. Rain and melted snow add up to a moderate amount through the year. Homes here are valued below what is typical for the country as a whole, and fewer adults hold a four-year degree than in most places.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with farming, the building trades, and banks, insurance and property also providing jobs. Across McCook County, some of the largest workplaces are school districts, among them Bridgewater-Emery Schools and McCook Central School District, along with the farm-equipment wholesaler All States Ag Parts. Unemployment in the county is low and has stayed steady over the past year, and the county has added jobs over the last year. The typical commute is moderate, and a share of residents work from home.
Things to do. Silver Lake is a lake a short drive away, a handy spot for time on the water. Farther afield, Porter Sculpture Park is a museum a longer drive away, and Bloom Creek is a river a longer drive away. Many more lakes lie within a longer drive, so there is plenty of water to explore for those willing to travel.
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- 207households
- 14%of adults have a degree
- 11%below the poverty line
- 24 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What people in McCook County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. McCook County had 1,404 jobs in 2025, 4.9% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 26° and lows near 8°; warmest in July, with highs near 85° and lows near 63°. About 28 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Bridgewater weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in McCook County
- Bridgewater-Emery 30-3 SchoolsSchool district54FTE
- McCook Central School District 43-7School district52FTE
- Canistota School District 43-1School district48FTE
- Montrose School District 43-2School district39FTE
- PipestoneAdministrative management and general management consulting services30
- All States Ag PartsLawn maintenance machinery and equipment merchant wholesalers24
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 54 people in all across the county; Bridgewater has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Winter weatherVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- TornadoesVery high
- HailVery high
- Ice stormsVery high
- Strong windVery high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Bridgewater’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on McCook County and the Sioux Falls, SD metro.
Bridgewater home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Bridgewater$248,128
- South Dakota$317,874
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Zip codes with a Bridgewater address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Bridgewater — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.