White, South Dakota.
Typical home $329,509 (+10.6% in a year). Brookings, SD metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,002 (+138%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $31,689 +11%
- $297,819$329,509 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $85,005 +35%
- $244,504$329,509 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.
- White$1,730
- South Dakota$1,668
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in White, SD rose 10.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in White, Brookings County, South Dakota
White is a city of 537 people in Brookings County. 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 manufacturing, then schools and health care.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. White is a small city in Brookings County, South Dakota, with a population small enough that residents are likely to know one another by name. Homes here are valued well above what the county's incomes might suggest, and relatively few residents live below the poverty line. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, while summers are warm, with July the warmest.
Work. Many residents work in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in professional and business services, and in the building trades. Across Brookings County, the largest workplaces include South Dakota State University, 3M Company and Daktronics. Unemployment across the county is low and has eased slightly over the past year, and the county has gained jobs over the past year. The typical commute is a moderate drive, and relatively few people work from home.
Things to do. Hartford Beach State Park is in or beside town, a protected area that makes an easy outing. Oak Lake is a short drive away, and McCrory Gardens and South Dakota Arboretum, a botanical garden, is a longer drive away. For more time on the water, Lake Hendricks is also a longer drive.
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- 215households
- 22%of adults have a degree
- 4%below the poverty line
- 27 mintypical commute
- 8%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 20° and lows near 3°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 60°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Astoria 4S weather station, 7 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Brookings County
- 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: 37 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 5,396 people in all across the county; White has none of its own. 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
- HailVery high
- Strong windVery high
- Ice stormsVery high
- Cold wavesVery high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in White’s 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.
White home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- White$329,509
- 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 White address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls White — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.