Possible move to Spearfish...a few questions :) (Rapid City, Sturgis: rentals, affordable houses)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello all!
My family and I are researching possible areas for relocation after I graduate from nursing school in June. The area's we are looking at are Cody, WY; Sheridan, WY; Kalispell, MT, and Spearfish, SD. Spearfish is our number one choice at this point but we would love input from those living in the area. My husband and I have 3 daughters (ages 12, 10, & 7) so great schools are important. Also all three of my girls are members of our local swim team and we would love for them to continue, so any information regarding local swim teams or places to swim would be great. I've done searches here on the forum and obtained loads of great information. We are excited about the prospects of relocating to such a beautiful area.
The main quest we have is getting any information about Spearfish hospital. As I mentioned, I will be graduating from nursing school in June. Any fellow RN's on here who work at the local hospital? How is the job market, salary range, work environment, etc? Any and all information is very much appreciated! We will not/cannot move until a job offer is in place, so the plan is to start applying to the hospital and area clinics in May. Also are rentals easy to come by or is there a property management company anyone recommends. Craigslist doesn't have very many rental listings at all so I'm hopefull there is another avenue for getting rental info for the area.
We have vacationed in the Spearfish area on 3 different occasions and have LOVED our time there. It has been on our wishlist for years as a place for retirement. My husband is now retired from the Coast Guard and I'm wrapping up school, so it's finally time to make our dream a reality. Woohoo!
Thanks so much in advance for your help!
First, swim team. Spearfish has a swim team you can have your kids join. The team name is Black Hills Gold (I think, it's been a while). They practice and swim at the rec center at Black Hills State University. (I'm not positive if this info is up to date as it has been about 7 years since I was on the swim team in Rapid).
As far as the hospital, I think that you will likely have a lot more opportunities in Rapid City because it is the major medical center for the region, but I'll let someone who knows more give you a better opinion on that.
Rentals: I really don't know about that as I lived in Rapid City. I will say that rentals are probably influenced by the University there.
Don't use rely on Craigslist to find anything in SD. It's very rural out there and there's not much to choose from to begin with. The population of Spearfish is only about 14,000 at best. Healthcare pay in the Black Hills region in general is horrible. I know people who work at the hospital in Spearfish, however, if I were you I'd apply at Indian Health Service or Veterans Affairs. You'll get paid a lot more. There is a VA Hospital at Fort Meade in Sturgis, and there's an IHS clinic in Rapid City.
Thank you so much for the replies! I will definitely look into the swim team and IHS/VA nursing jobs. I will be starting a clinical rotation next week at the local VA hospital here, so perhaps I can make some connections and look into the prospective job market for the VA. I was hoping that the rumors I've heard about low nursing pay in SD and MT weren't true but it's not turning out that way Our next door neighbor just moved from Montana and she said the pay there for nurses is amongst the lowest in the nation! Not what I wanted to hear but it's better to be prepared The thing I'm having a hard time understanding is why housing in Spearfish is so expensive compared to the rest of SD. We are anxious to leave WA state because of the high cost of living, but buying a house in Spearfish seems out of reach.....what do people do to afford the 1/2 million dollar and up homes??
As for living/working in Rapid City, I'm not sure we are looking for a bigger city. We live in a smallish town right now (35K population) and for us it's just not our dream area for retirement. For those of you that live in Rapid City, what are the best parts of town for schools and neighborhoods? We are in love with the Black Hills area, so would be willing to sacrifice lower pay for our dream area but we still need to pay the bills Thanks again!
Spearfish is a retirement community/college community. Both of those things lend themselves to more expensive housing, in my experience. Plus, it's one of the most picturesque towns in the Hills, and it knows it, making property that much more desireable. However, if you look in the right areas, there are more affordable houses - just don't expect to pay less than $225-250K for something in the line of a 3-4 bedroom. Also, don't forget to research your property taxes. While we may not have an income tax (remember to figure that into your lower wages - it's possible with the income tax in your area, you could afford a lower wage), the property taxes can come as a suprise to folks.
The VA would be a viable option in that area - Sturgis is definitely within driving distance. You probably need to check Rapid City Regional Hospital's website for postings, since Regional is the hospital that covers this area. All of the satellite hospitals (Deadwood, Spearfish, Custer, etc) are all part of their system.
There are some beautiful areas west in West (more specifically SouthWest) Rapid City that are actually in some of the first hills of the black hills. There are also some places out west on highway 44 (can't really think of the name of the division that is very nice and only a 15 minute drive to the city.
Southwest Rapid has the best schools and the best scenery. It is also the most pricey. It's not as nice as Spearfish, but it could be a decent compromise if you can't find something in Spearfish to suit your needs.
Thank you for the additional information on Rapid City. We may look in that area if we can't get a job lined up in Spearfish, Deadwood, or Lead. I'm hoping that in my profession (soon to be RN) it won't be as difficult to find a job, but an offer must be accepted before we will move to the area. We have scraped by financially for 3 years to get me through nursing school and we aren't about to throw away that hard work by moving to an area with no job I have continued to do lots of research online regarding the area and even got a relocation packet from the local Spearfish Chamber. Such nice folks there I also spoke with the HR department at the local hospital regarding RN positions and she gave me great information regarding when to apply and how to go about getting my SD RN license if I am offered a position. The benefit for Spearfish is they do NOT have a nursing school in that community. Here where we live, the local community college (where I attend), pumps out 50-60 RN's a year! That's a LOT of RN's for a town of 30,000 people. Hospital's here are overloaded with new grads wanting jobs so many of us have to move. Anyway, thanks again for the information. We look forward to learning more about the community in the coming months, planning another visit and hopefully an interview/job offer and then making the move sometime in August. Hope you all have a blessed weekend!
Even regional the fresh out of nursing school nurses start out part time with no real assurance of hours. That is what my niece went through two years ago. Things might have changed since.
Ooofff...well that's not good news SD4020 I would definitely need a full time job with guaranteed hours before we could make the move considering my husband would be leaving his job where we live now to make the move. I guess we will have to see how the application process goes. Thanks for the info!
It is worth looking into. However, it is a possibility. At the time it seemed there was a list they had for full times.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Our next door neighbor just moved from Montana and she said the pay there for nurses is amongst the lowest in the nation! Not what I wanted to hear but it's better to be prepared 
The thing I'm having a hard time understanding is why housing in Spearfish is so expensive compared to the rest of SD. We are anxious to leave WA state because of the high cost of living, but buying a house in Spearfish seems out of reach.....what do people do to afford the 1/2 million dollar and up homes?? 
