Brookings, South Dakota.
Typical home $325,663 (+5.4% in a year), asking rent $1,286 (+9.7%). Brookings, SD metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$933 (+120%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $16,686 +5%
- $308,976$325,663 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $73,527 +29%
- $252,135$325,663 since Sep 2021
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.
- Brookings$1,709
- South Dakota$1,668
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 14 years.
Typical home values in Brookings, SD rose 5.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Brookings, SD rose 9.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Brookings runs $1,078/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $1,101 in Aug 2026.
That is $2,364 a month against $1,286 rent: a $1,709 mortgage payment, plus $306 property tax and $349 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Brookings
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$2,364
- Renting$1,286
- Mortgage only$1,709
Property tax · $306/mo 1.13% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Brookings County, SD
Insurance & upkeep · $349/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in Brookings, Brookings County, South Dakota
Brookings is a city of 23,377 people in Brookings County. Half its households earn more than $63,493 a year and half less, against $70,064 across Brookings County; 17% of its people live below the poverty line. 48% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 52% are rented. Unemployment in Brookings County was 2.0% in August 2026, and the county had 1.5% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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. Brookings is a college city, and it feels like one: residents are young, far younger than in most American towns, and a large share of adults hold a four-year degree. Household incomes run below the county's, and more people live below the poverty line than you might expect in a town with so many degrees, which is common where many residents are students. Most households rent rather than own, and the winters are long and cold, with January days that stay well below freezing, plenty of snow through the season, and summers that warm up pleasantly by July.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by manufacturing, restaurants and hotels, and shops. South Dakota State University is the largest workplace in town, with Daktronics, a maker of electronic scoreboards and video displays, and the Brookings School District among the other big employers. Commutes are short, jobs in the county have grown a little over the past year, and unemployment is low.
Things to do. McCrory Gardens and South Dakota Arboretum is a botanical garden in or beside town, good for a slow walk when the weather allows. Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, also in or beside town, is where the university's teams play on game days. For some time outdoors, Hartford Beach State Park is a protected area a short drive away, and Oakwood Lakes State Park is another a longer drive away.
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- 9,145households
- 48%of adults have a degree
- 17%below the poverty line
- 12 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Brookings County had 19,542 jobs in 2025, 1.5% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 22° and lows near 4°; warmest in July, with highs near 81° and lows near 60°. About 36 inches of snow and 25 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Brookings Northeast weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Brookings
- South Dakota State UniversityUniversity or college1,932
- 3M Company1,217
- DaktronicsManufacturer, sales, installation & service of electronic scoring, timing, audio & video displays960
- Brookings School District 05-1School district496FTE
- FbhsDoors metal manufacturing420
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters363
- Hy-VeeSupermarkets and other grocery except convenience stores278
- Bel Brands USACheese, natural, manufacturing272
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 24 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 4,597 people in all. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24) and school districts 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
- TornadoesVery high
- Cold wavesVery high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Brookings’ census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively 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 Brookings County and the Brookings, SD metro.
Brookings home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Brookings$325,663
- South Dakota$317,874
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Brookings listings, and the typical home goes pending in 14 days — the market is cooling.
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.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Brookings26.72%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Brookings14
- United States21
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Brookings69
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Brookings24
Zip codes with a Brookings address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Brookings — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.