If you want metal, the DW Design Series Black Nickel over brass is oddly the best value going right now at $289 for 5.5", and $299 for 6.5".
If you want wood, go with maple - there are a number of solid choices for a maple snare that are a bit more budget minded:
Tama SPL Classic Maple
Yamaha Tour Custom Maple
Ludwig Standard Maple with Chesnut veneer
Tama Sound Works Maple (Currently running $249)
Musician's Friend is currently selling the OCDP maple in 6x14 for $159 - it has black nickel hardware, but from a price perspective, considering that it has die-cast hoops, you can't even piece out the hardware for $159.
Seriously though - just go to one of the online vendors and search "maple snare drum" - you'll get a lot of good options.
For a metal snare drum, unless you find something used, expect to pay at least $300 and up. For maple, typically you're looking at around $250 and up.
I wouldn't worry too much about whether or not a snare drum is "good" - once you get past a certain price and quality threshold, how the drum is going to sound is going to depend much more on how it's set up - what heads/wires you're using, and how it's tuned. Almost everyone says my snares sound good, and it doesn't really matter what they are - currently my two main snares are DIY projects that I made from Keller maple shells. I think it comes down to how I've got them set up, and even more importantly, how I hit them.