Cost of Living & Housing in Lemmon

Lemmon's cost of living centers on genuinely low area home values relative to South Dakota's own statewide average, paired with a real, disclosed tension: Perkins County's own property tax rate runs genuinely, substantially above both the national and South Dakota statewide medians.

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Genuinely low area home values, with a real, disclosed city-specific data gap

Perkins County's own median home value ran approximately $105,900 (taxbycounty.com) -- far below South Dakota's own $319,894 statewide average home value. No confidently-sourced, Lemmon-city-specific figure or dedicated Ownwell trends page was found this pass, a real, disclosed data gap this record discloses honestly (base record).

A 1.327% effective property tax rate -- described as the highest of any South Dakota county

Perkins County's own effective property tax rate ran approximately 1.327% (taxbycounty.com), described directly by that source as leading all 66 South Dakota counties and running approximately 21% above the statewide average -- closely corroborated by a separate propertytaxrates.org figure of 1.29%. Both run meaningfully above the national median (~1.02%) and South Dakota's own statewide anchor (1.06%) (base record).

South Dakota's lack of a state income tax and time-limited 4.2% state sales tax

South Dakota is one of only 9 US states with no state individual income tax at all, and therefore no state tax on Social Security, pensions, or retirement-account withdrawals. South Dakota's 4.2% state sales tax rate is itself time-limited, scheduled to rise to 4.5% on July 1, 2027, plus a real local-option add-on averaging approximately 1.786% (base record).

A disclosed cross-source spread on local income, and gaps to confirm directly

Lemmon's own 2024 median household income ran approximately $51,349 (City-Data), with a separate 2024 ACS 5-year figure running modestly lower ($50,147) and an older 2023 figure running meaningfully lower ($42,102) -- a real, disclosed cross-source and cross-year spread, with all figures running well below South Dakota's own $75,081 statewide median. Confirm current, specific rent and employer data directly with the Lemmon Chamber of Commerce (base record).

Key takeaways

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-28. Independent research; not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.