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Hello.
I wanted to ask some residents few pros and cons of moving to Rapid City. Visited area numeorus times since my fiance was doing lot of travel nursing in South Dakota.
How is job market for Behavioral Health, ABA specialists, Juvenile justice ? My fiance is RN so she already had lot of offers for jobs.
Housing costs and nice places to live ? Any areas to avoid? We are planing to make move at end of the year. How is traffic in 20 to 30 mile radius of city?
Thank you for your help
I have lived in Hot Springs for about 12 yrs and love it. Rapid is larger than Hot Springs & consequently has more services. You should not have much of a problem finding suitable employment in Rapid, However I am not familiar with your field so you may want to check with others. I would avoid much of the housing that is near the Interstate. Most of Massachusetts has a rush hour for commuters, Rapid has a rush 5 or 10 minutes. Housing costs are modest as compared to much of Mass, but they have been rising in recent yrs. It would be best to talk to a local Realtor for specific pros and cons.
Thank you very much for your reply. I have been following housing prices in and around Rapid city and they have gone up a lot. I am use to hours of traffic in MA. I spent about 6 months in last 2 years in Western part of SD and i loved it.
Easy commute on the freeway or major highways leading into/out of town, so you can live in neighboring small towns and maybe get more property/house for your money. Places like Black Hawk, Hermosa, Piedmont, or Keystone would all be close enough to make an easy and quick commute vs. MA type drive. The main roads are pretty well cleared in the winter, so except in the middle of a snow storm getting around is pretty easy. If you don't mind working for the US Government you might both find work with the VA Medical Center on Ft Mead in Sturgis, SD. That would open you up to more smaller town/country living that is still close enough to Rapid City for regular shopping, event and airport usage. Good Luck.
We have only been here almost a year and eventually found a house in Spearfish while renting in Rapid.Housing costs are inflated and limited like everywhere else. We are recently retired so no comment on jobs. Rush hour is mild if your used to any decent sized city. The people are friendly not much different than anyplace else. Biggest gripe is finding people to do trades work on our home.
If your looking for a fantastic gym check out Strive Fitness in south Rapid. Juniper is a fantastic restaurant in Rapid and Skogen Kitchen is spectacular in Custer. If you like fresh seafood check out Dakota Seafood it costs an arm and a leg but they carry a really good product compared to the grocery stores.
Housing prices have gone up quite a bit over the past five years. Rents also. The real problem is not so much the price as the lack of houses on the market. You may find you have to buy some little 1000 sq foot house for $300,000 just to get into the area. There are lots available but you had better pay close attention to the CC&Rs in place as they can be restrictive in some manner that you do not like. Also pay attention to your water supply. Drilling your own well may seem like a good idea but sometimes you have to go down 400 feet or more and that does not come cheap. Lastly do NOT, I repeat DO NOT rely on the county to ensure the property is built safely. We have one development up here that was built over an old gypsum mine. The county knew about it and approved the development anyway. Then when a road under construction started sinking the county insisted the developer continue with the road construction despite that. Now houses have been condemned and the county has escaped all responsibility. Make sure you get title insurance and a rider to cover any undisclosed issues. (Radiation and chemical spills from the base, old nuclear missile sites, etc.)
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