States · South Dakota · Lincoln County

Tea, South Dakota.

Typical home $384,654 (-0.4% in a year), asking rent $1,165 . Sioux Falls, SD metro.

What it costs per month · Tea $2,019/mo

to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,051 (+109%) since Jan 2020.

What the home itself did
1 year
Down $1,395 -0%
$386,049$384,654 since Sep 2025
5 years
Up $71,683 +23%
$312,970$384,654 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.

$500 $1,000 $1,500 $2,000 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Tea $2,019 South Dakota $1,668 United States $1,922
$500 $1,000 $1,500 $2,000 2002 2010 2018 2026
  • Tea$2,019
  • South Dakota$1,668
  • United States$1,922

At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 17 years.

Typical home values in Tea, SD fell 0.4% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.

Living in Tea, Lincoln County, South Dakota

Tea is a city of 5,598 people in Lincoln County. Half its households earn more than $120,139 a year and half less, against $99,166 across Lincoln County; 5% of its people live below the poverty line. 80% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 20% are rented. Unemployment in Lincoln County was 2.0% in August 2026, and the county had 2.7% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then finance and property.

People 5,598 in the 2020 census; median age 30.6
Household income $120,139 the median, give or take $19,287 · Lincoln County: $99,166
Unemployment 2.0% Lincoln County, August 2026; 2.0% a year before
Homes 80% lived in by their owners; 20% rented

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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Tea is a young city, with residents who are younger than in most American towns, and most households own the homes they live in. Incomes here run higher than across Lincoln County, and fewer people live in poverty than in many places. Winters are cold and snowy, summers are warm, and the year brings a moderate amount of rain and melted snow.

Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by banks, insurance and property, professional and business services, and shops. The Tea Area School District and Hy-Vee are among the largest workplaces in town, and ADESA's Sioux Falls operation is another. Commutes are fairly short, and a good number of people work from home. Unemployment is low, and Lincoln County added jobs over the past year.

Things to do. A short drive away, the Great Plains Zoo is a good outing for families, and Falls Park is a protected area built around the river falls. The Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science is a museum a short drive away with exhibits and performances. For snow sports in winter, Great Bear Recreation Park is a ski area a longer drive away.

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  • 2,171households
  • 47%of adults have a degree
  • 5%below the poverty line
  • 20 mintypical commute
  • 20%work from home

What residents work in

  • Schools, hospitals and social care29%
  • Banks, insurance and property13%
  • Professional and business services13%
  • Shops (retail)10%
  • Building trades9%
  • Wholesale6%

Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Lincoln County had 30,502 jobs in 2025, 2.7% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Weather through the year

Average daily high and low for each month: coldest in January, 25° and 7°; warmest in July, 85° and 64° 0° 20° 40° 60° 80° J 25° 7° F M A M J J 85° 64° A S O N D
Average daily high and low for each month: coldest in January, 25° and 7°; warmest in July, 85° and 64° 0° 20° 40° 60° 80° J 25° 7° F M A M J J 85° 64° A S O N D

Coldest in January, with highs near 25° and lows near 7°; warmest in July, with highs near 85° and lows near 64°. About 28 inches of rain and melted snow a year.

Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Sioux Falls Weather Office Airport weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).

Largest workplaces in Tea

  1. Tea Area School District 41-5School district286FTE
  2. Sir Lines-A-Lot TeaRoad striping, traffic control33
  3. ADESA : Sioux FallsMotor vehicle dealers32
  4. Hy-VeeSupermarkets and other grocery except convenience stores21

Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 86 people in all. 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

  1. TornadoesVery high
  2. Winter weatherVery high
  3. Ice stormsRelatively high
  4. Strong windRelatively high
  5. HailRelatively moderate
  6. Cold wavesRelatively moderate

FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Tea’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Lincoln County and the Sioux Falls, SD metro.

Tea home values

Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.

$200,000 $300,000 $400,000 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 Tea $384,654 South Dakota $317,874 United States $366,157
$200,000 $300,000 $400,000 2018 2022 2026
  • Tea$384,654
  • South Dakota$317,874
  • United States$366,157
Property tax, 2026 roll $5,085/yr median bill inside Tea, effective 1.32% of estimated value — current assessment rolls, AssessorSearch Data Lab, quality-gated against the county's official figures

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 Tea listings — 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.

JFMAMJJASOND
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
falling flat warming hot overheating runaway

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.

10% 20% 30% 2023 2024 2025 2026 Tea 24.22% United States 26.90%
10% 20% 30% 2023 2024 2025 2026
  • Tea24.22%
  • United States26.90%

Homes for sale

Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.

20 40 60 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Tea 65
20 40 60 2018 2022 2026
  • Tea65

New listings per month

Sellers arriving at the market.

5 10 15 2025 2026 Tea 14
5 10 15 2025 2026
  • Tea14

Zip codes with a Tea address

A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Tea — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.

Zip codes in Tea