The home of SDSU, Brookings is a friendly community which features an indoor ice arena, swimming pools, tennis courts, golf courses and 14 city parks. McCrory Gardens, comprised of approximately 20 acres of formal botanical gardens and 45 acres of arboretum, are open year round at no charge. The public library addition now ranks it as South Dakota's 2nd largest public library. The hospital and clinic continue to remodel, renovate and re-equip to remain state-of-the-art. This year, more than 100,000 people came to Pioneer Park in Brookings for the Summer Arts Festival, the biggest fair of its kind in the region.

A first-class school system also draws many people to Brookings. Brookings has three elementary schools, a brand-new middle school, and a high school that graduates nationally competitive students, the majority of whom go on to higher education.