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Hello, everybody - I've been a lurker on these forums for awhile now, but I've been reading the South Dakota forum with great interest. There seem to be a lot of people who want to move to the state, and while I think that SD has some wonderful aspects, some of the posts on this forum can paint an unrealistic picture of what it's really like.
I was born in at Sioux Valley Hospital (now Sanford) in the '80s and I have lived in Yankton, Montrose, Brookings, and Sioux Falls. I graduated from Roosevelt High School in 2005, and until I was 20 years old, South Dakota was the only state in which I had ever lived. I'm putting this out here just in case anybody decides to question my SD credentials!
But there are some serious downsides to the state - while I loved South Dakota, I now live elsewhere for a couple of reasons. First of all, based on my personal observations and the paths pursued by my RHS classmates, the state is hemhorraging its young people. Why would I ever stay in South Dakota to go to USD or SDSU when I can go to a vastly superior school like the University of Minnesota for the exact same price due to reciprocity? Out of the college-bound seniors in my class, the vast majority of those who were accepted to UofM or other out-of-state schools left SD and didn't consider the state universities. Two kids ended up going to Harvard, and they did not get a single piece of mail from any state university except the School of Mines (which is an excellent place to go if you want to be an engineer). Not exactly a concerted effort to keep the best and the brightest in state, I would say.
Secondly, while SD public schools are pretty good in the cities, the smaller towns don't get their fair share of the resources, in my opinion. Books are outdated, funding is lacking, and in smaller areas, school districts have had to consolidate or adopt 4-day weeks to save money. A great deal of our public education system is funded by revenues from gambling, and whatever your moral views are on video lottery, etc., I think it's an incredibly poor and unsustainable way to fund education.
Another thing that you should know is that wages in South Dakota are terrible. I can't remember what the name of the study was, but our average wages are some of the lowest in the nation. Some people may counter with the fact that our cost of living is lower than average - and it can be. However, I don't think the lower cost of living really makes up for the low average wages. That's another reason that young people are leaving - there's no incentive to work certain jobs in SD when the money in the neighboring states is better for the same work!
If you're not from the Upper Midwest, you will probably find our winters to be quite brutal. I actually like the cold, and I wear T-shirts down to the 30s and sweatshirts until it gets to 15 degrees. But temperatures can and do get below zero during the winter, and if you are not used to snow and bitter cold, you will be in for a rude awakening. My suggestion to you is to punish yourself by trying to adapt to the cold - eventually you'll stop complaining about it, and eventually you'll get used to it.
I don't buy the fact that we have "nicer" people than the rest of the country. I would definitely consider us less neurotic than New Yorkers (no offense to New Yorkers, of course), but there are plenty of rude people in South Dakota. I'm going to be brutally honest here: too many people talk up small towns like they're some kind of utopia. Nothing could be further from the truth. While they are very pretty, they can be inconvenient, and if you're a private person, you'll hate living in a small town. When I lived in one, I couldn't stand the fact that everybody knew everybody else - to be honest, I didn't care if the neighbor lady two blocks down the street wanted to make small talk with me. I would much rather say a polite "hello" and leave it at that. Your mileage may vary. Personally, I think too much familiarity breeds gossip and a stifling atmosphere.
Be skeptical of many of the generalizations you hear about character. The phrase "small town values" sounds nice, but in my experience, it's a total joke. Many of the small town kids I grew up with did meth and were more sexually promiscuous than ANY of the kids I knew in Sioux Falls. The city kids were saints by comparison - fewer binge drinkers, fewer drug abusers, and fewer fights. I know that many South Dakotans are going to violently disagree with me on this one, but I'm trying to get you to take an impartial look at the place. Rose-colored views of small towns don't help the prospective immigrant, and alcohol abuse IS a serious problem in many of our towns, despite the fact that some people refuse to admit it.
As for traffic, it's nonexistent. That's something you'll love. On the other hand, drivers in eastern South Dakota are not very good, despite what you may see in those national surveys. To put it bluntly, the vast majority of Sioux Falls drivers are idiots (and when I was a resident, you could have probably put me in that category, too). It's bad on the interstates around Sioux Falls - a lot of drivers won't be courteous enough to get into the passing lane to let you onto the interstate, and as a result you will be forced to either gun it or halt at the yield sign and wait until it's clear. If you go out West, it's much, much better. If someone in an oncoming vehicle waves at you out West, it's a greeting, not an impolite gesture! Wave back and be friendly.
Taxes are low in South Dakota, which can be both good and bad. Nobody likes to pay taxes, including me, but our lack of a state income tax has caused some problems for the budget. The state government is too dependent on gambling and tourism revenues, and in this economic downturn, I seriously question whether or not this model is sustainable. If this recession lasts a long time, tourism revenues will be down and the non-addicted gamblers will stop going to casinos. That could be a problem.
Religion. This is a dangerous subject, so I won't say much about it. I was raised a Lutheran, as many South Dakotans are. One of the nice things about ELCA Lutherans is that they don't try to shove religion down your throat. They are moderate, deeply faithful, and respectful of other denominations and even other faiths. My church pastor routinely held dialogues with Jewish and Muslim residents of the city, and there was no "hellfire and brimstone" vitriol at all. Of course, other Christian denominations exist in SD, too, and they are not frowned upon, at least not in my experience. Sioux Falls even has a growing presence of atheists and agnostics, a development which I wholeheartedly welcome, even as a man of faith - I don't like religious hatred.
Our state is not "recession proof" - this is a load of BS that my brother seems to think is true. Just because the recession takes longer to reach SD does not mean, in any way, that times are good in the state. Hutchinson Technology just laid off its entire workforce. Raven Industries laid off several workers, including my former neighbor. Full-time jobs are becoming scarce, and the wages from part-time gigs are awful, but better than nothing. Do not come here and expect to land a job - there are no guarantees.
If you're older, or if you're married, South Dakota isn't a bad place to settle down for awhile. If you're young, I would advise you to stay away unless you're easily amused. Besides bars and outdoor activities, there's not a lot to do in SD. While some minor league sports teams like the Skyforce are good, there are no professional teams. Restaurants are mostly national chains or small local venues - there are a couple of ethnic places, but not many. Pheasant hunting is always good - if you do it, though, please respect both nature and our state law. Killing more birds than you are allotted is restricted by Game & Fish for a reason.
There is virtually no crime in South Dakota. You can leave your door unlocked and your car running. In the winter, the only thing they'd probably do is clean it off for you . Agriculture and Native American culture are both important parts of our state culture, so take a little effort to learn a bit about both subjects.
I hope that this post was useful to somebody - while I have some strong opinions, I believe they are reasonable. I personally wanted to get out of the state after 20 years to pursue opportunities that I could not have had in SD. There are some wonderful things about South Dakota, but I did want to point out that there are always some downsides. To be honest, I may be back someday when I get older. I think that South Dakota right now is better if you want to settle down - I grew up here, but I do not think that a young person should move to the state unless they have carefully considered what such a move would entail. There are more exciting places to see when you are in your 20s.
Hopefully I have laid out some of the positives and negatives of South Dakota. It's a beautiful state with many natural wonders, and if you don't decide to live here, you should at least visit once in your lifetime.
Thank you for your input! It's nice to see a well written and well thought out counter argument attesting to the fact that SD is not perfect. I think the information you provided is a fair perspective to offer.
That said, I am a 30-something who is looking for a place to settle down, and SD was home for me a very long time ago. I have lived many places, and of all of them, SD is the one that draws me back. That is not to say that there aren't many equally wonderful places on the continent that I would be content to call home.
But you are right in that it is probably not for everyone. In fact, it's probably not for most...but what place is? As many other posts can attest, SD has a lot to offer, if, in fact, what it has to offer is what you are looking for. But this OP makes many valid points - the most important of which is that you need to make sure that it IS what you are looking for before moving (same as any other place, IMHO). Great post!
Ice, welcome to the forum and the well thought-out post. You are right on so many points. Our state isn't Utopia and our winters can be brutal. I also prefer not to live in a small town for some of the reasons you mentioned.
There are more opportunities in the big cities in other states and many young people leave because of that. As far as the economy/employment situation here~you probably noticed we have an entire thread where we've posted some of the layoffs or closings. We'd never want to give someone the impression that they can just move here and will have a job in a day like it used to be. In fact we've stated that if someone is planning on moving here, they need to have employment lined up because we're not doing well right now.
But about our state's budget problems~the last report I saw, there were 38 other states that had no money. Some had none by Oct, 2007 and we'll hopefully be able to go a year past that so that's not something isolated to our state. So in reality, we're doing better then most states.
Our public schools~Sorry, but I'm not one of the people who believe that heavily funding schools or educators will improve the educational system. I'm not sure that we're doing that poorly in that area. One of the reasons for consolidation is that some classes only have a handful of children. It'd be silly to keep a school with a K-8 student count of 60 operating so consolidation is necessary in some cases. It's due to drops in enrollment and not only a $$ issue.
I am sorry that you felt you needed to leave for a better life, but I wish you the best and it's good to hear that some day you may decide on returning.
I think you are right on many points, but correct me if I'm wrong, your experiences are all on the eastern side of the state? We moved to the panhandle of Nebraska two years ago, and we go to Rapid City for a lot of stuff, including specialized medical needs and shopping, and one of us works in rural South Dakota.
I grew up near large cities (San Francisco, San Diego, Denver) all my life, and I would have to agree that this part of the country offers very little in the way of opportunity for young people. If your kids aren't going to farm or fix cars, it's hard to scratch out a living. Wait, even then it's hard to scratch out a living! At least in these rural parts, which western Nebraska and South Dakota definitely ARE. My high school kids, after graduating, will be off to college in another state.
My impressions of Rapid City are, that overall it's a great place for where it is. It pulls people in from 200 miles or more for the same things we go there for. It's only got a population of about 60,000, so don't expect it to have a professional baseball team or a ballet. But it is reasonably clean and modern, has an interesting old downtown, and most of the amenities people need. I have heard people complain about affordability, but after having lived in several states and cities, by comparison it isn't bad at all. Hey, if you want to make a good living, get a profession, not a job! You don't see teachers, nurses etc. complaining about pay. When I lived in Oceanside, California, the wages were no better than other places I had lived, but the cost of living was nearly double.
Rapid City also has the advantage of being near the Black Hills, an anomaly of a mountainous region in the middle of the high plains. It's not Vail, mind you, but it does have winter sports, including two ski resorts. If you bike, hike, or just love the pines, this is a really pretty place!
For a family (with a profession), I think that Rapid City is a very nice place. If I were 20 and single, I would likely go elsewhere, but for our rural neighbors here, Rapid City is just too big!!
But there are some serious downsides to the state - while I loved South Dakota, I now live elsewhere for a couple of reasons. First of all, based on my personal observations and the paths pursued by my RHS classmates, the state is hemhorraging its young people. Why would I ever stay in South Dakota to go to USD or SDSU when I can go to a vastly superior school like the University of Minnesota for the exact same price due to reciprocity? Out of the college-bound seniors in my class, the vast majority of those who were accepted to UofM or other out-of-state schools left SD and didn't consider the state universities. Two kids ended up going to Harvard, and they did not get a single piece of mail from any state university except the School of Mines (which is an excellent place to go if you want to be an engineer). Not exactly a concerted effort to keep the best and the brightest in state, I would say.
Secondly, while SD public schools are pretty good in the cities, the smaller towns don't get their fair share of the resources, in my opinion. Books are outdated, funding is lacking, and in smaller areas, school districts have had to consolidate or adopt 4-day weeks to save money. A great deal of our public education system is funded by revenues from gambling, and whatever your moral views are on video lottery, etc., I think it's an incredibly poor and unsustainable way to fund education.
Another thing that you should know is that wages in South Dakota are terrible. I can't remember what the name of the study was, but our average wages are some of the lowest in the nation. Some people may counter with the fact that our cost of living is lower than average - and it can be. However, I don't think the lower cost of living really makes up for the low average wages. That's another reason that young people are leaving - there's no incentive to work certain jobs in SD when the money in the neighboring states is better for the same work!
If you're not from the Upper Midwest, you will probably find our winters to be quite brutal. I actually like the cold, and I wear T-shirts down to the 30s and sweatshirts until it gets to 15 degrees. But temperatures can and do get below zero during the winter, and if you are not used to snow and bitter cold, you will be in for a rude awakening. My suggestion to you is to punish yourself by trying to adapt to the cold - eventually you'll stop complaining about it, and eventually you'll get used to it.
I don't buy the fact that we have "nicer" people than the rest of the country. I would definitely consider us less neurotic than New Yorkers (no offense to New Yorkers, of course), but there are plenty of rude people in South Dakota. I'm going to be brutally honest here: too many people talk up small towns like they're some kind of utopia. Nothing could be further from the truth. While they are very pretty, they can be inconvenient, and if you're a private person, you'll hate living in a small town. When I lived in one, I couldn't stand the fact that everybody knew everybody else - to be honest, I didn't care if the neighbor lady two blocks down the street wanted to make small talk with me. I would much rather say a polite "hello" and leave it at that. Your mileage may vary. Personally, I think too much familiarity breeds gossip and a stifling atmosphere.
Be skeptical of many of the generalizations you hear about character. The phrase "small town values" sounds nice, but in my experience, it's a total joke. Many of the small town kids I grew up with did meth and were more sexually promiscuous than ANY of the kids I knew in Sioux Falls. The city kids were saints by comparison - fewer binge drinkers, fewer drug abusers, and fewer fights. I know that many South Dakotans are going to violently disagree with me on this one, but I'm trying to get you to take an impartial look at the place. Rose-colored views of small towns don't help the prospective immigrant, and alcohol abuse IS a serious problem in many of our towns, despite the fact that some people refuse to admit it.
As for traffic, it's nonexistent. That's something you'll love. On the other hand, drivers in eastern South Dakota are not very good, despite what you may see in those national surveys. To put it bluntly, the vast majority of Sioux Falls drivers are idiots (and when I was a resident, you could have probably put me in that category, too). It's bad on the interstates around Sioux Falls - a lot of drivers won't be courteous enough to get into the passing lane to let you onto the interstate, and as a result you will be forced to either gun it or halt at the yield sign and wait until it's clear. If you go out West, it's much, much better. If someone in an oncoming vehicle waves at you out West, it's a greeting, not an impolite gesture! Wave back and be friendly.
Taxes are low in South Dakota, which can be both good and bad. Nobody likes to pay taxes, including me, but our lack of a state income tax has caused some problems for the budget. The state government is too dependent on gambling and tourism revenues, and in this economic downturn, I seriously question whether or not this model is sustainable. If this recession lasts a long time, tourism revenues will be down and the non-addicted gamblers will stop going to casinos. That could be a problem.
Religion. This is a dangerous subject, so I won't say much about it. I was raised a Lutheran, as many South Dakotans are. One of the nice things about ELCA Lutherans is that they don't try to shove religion down your throat. They are moderate, deeply faithful, and respectful of other denominations and even other faiths. My church pastor routinely held dialogues with Jewish and Muslim residents of the city, and there was no "hellfire and brimstone" vitriol at all. Of course, other Christian denominations exist in SD, too, and they are not frowned upon, at least not in my experience. Sioux Falls even has a growing presence of atheists and agnostics, a development which I wholeheartedly welcome, even as a man of faith - I don't like religious hatred.
Our state is not "recession proof" - this is a load of BS that my brother seems to think is true. Just because the recession takes longer to reach SD does not mean, in any way, that times are good in the state. Hutchinson Technology just laid off its entire workforce. Raven Industries laid off several workers, including my former neighbor. Full-time jobs are becoming scarce, and the wages from part-time gigs are awful, but better than nothing. Do not come here and expect to land a job - there are no guarantees.
If you're older, or if you're married, South Dakota isn't a bad place to settle down for awhile. If you're young, I would advise you to stay away unless you're easily amused. Besides bars and outdoor activities, there's not a lot to do in SD. While some minor league sports teams like the Skyforce are good, there are no professional teams. Restaurants are mostly national chains or small local venues - there are a couple of ethnic places, but not many. Pheasant hunting is always good - if you do it, though, please respect both nature and our state law. Killing more birds than you are allotted is restricted by Game & Fish for a reason.
There is virtually no crime in South Dakota. You can leave your door unlocked and your car running. In the winter, the only thing they'd probably do is clean it off for you . Agriculture and Native American culture are both important parts of our state culture, so take a little effort to learn a bit about both subjects.
I'm going to take your long post apart, piece by piece.
How is U of M vastly superior to USD or SDSU?
I graduated with a class of 15 students in High School... We had the most recent technology and books that weren't outdated... I think I received the best education I could have. You are not mixed up in the crowd of larger schools. Everyone knows everyone, and you have a one on one relationship with the teacher. I'd like to see facts about smaller schools being outdated... I'm ready and willing to listen.
The cost of living is very low... Teacher pay is the lowest in the nation, and that is one thing that needs to be changed! The wages here are lower than other parts of the country.
And yes, its cold here... It's South Dakota. DUH!
We might not have nicer people... I havent seen a study on it... So how knows? People like living in small towns here. They like the friendly atmosphere! Most are farmers. I'm glad you moved to someplace where you like it though.
I grew up in a town of 250 people. Nobody did meth... drugs were unheard of. Maybe in a different part of the state?
How can you compare Sioux Falls to a small town?
Yeah there's idiot drivers in Sioux Falls... I deal with it. Its the same in any large city.
As far as the budget... I'm not sure what state you live in, but if you are still in Minnesota, look at their deficit.
Religion... Sioux Falls has a variety of places to worship. I don't participate... but theres options.
And another DUH! South Dakota is not recession proof... I don't have any words for this...other than laughing at your comments.
I never leave my car doors unlocked or my doors unlocked... why risk it?
Your post is reasonable...everyone has an opinion. Hopefully you will be back someday.
Last edited by MJ1986; 01-27-2009 at 10:17 PM..
Reason: typo
IceNomad - I'm one of those singing the praises of SD. Like you, I lived there most of my life, until I was a Jr. in High School. Then my family was transferred out. I spent my Senior year in California -- totally bored out of my skull, largely because the education system in CA was so far behind SD. The grading system was easier in CA, the courses they taught were dumbed down. By November, they had to create a special program for me. I was ace-ing the tests without studying. Not because I'm a rocket scientist, but because I had been through the material my sophomore year -- and I had excellent teachers in SD. I spent the majority of my SR year on a special project helping kids with learning disabilities.
I found as I traveled the country and the world (I've lived in 4 states and worked in 6 countries) that my South Dakota upbringing has served me well. It's a well-known fact that midwesterners get along extremely well in Hawaii... the cultures and small town values are similar. In the mid-1990's there was a Forbes Magazine article that said many companies preferred midwestern work values over an MBA from Ivy League schools. I still see that in my midwestern friends.
That privacy issue you mention is real, but it also instills a good solid awareness of "the other" in a human being. Not a bad civilizing influence. When you are completely invisible to others in a big city, it's easier to be a jerk. You still have a few in SD, but per capita, it seems like a lot less than where I am now.
Are there problems? Sure. We humans have to go through things to find ourselves, we make mistakes, we screw up, we figure it out. Some make it, some don't. There probably aren't more drug problems in SD, they just stick out more in smaller towns. Some towns are very clique-ish, some are more welcoming to outsiders.
And every state loses their kids to other states. That's how we find ourselves. We get lost and we come back home. Goes all the way back to the Biblical story of the prodigal son. There are those who never leave; the ones who leave and come home; and the ones who leave and stay away. Just like in every single town in America. Again, in smaller communities it's more glaringly obvious, but not all that different from anywhere else.
You probably need to be somewhere else. You have to listen to that. The opportunities are there all over the world for people who create them. As the wise Gilda Radner once said, "Everybody gotta be somewhere!"
It's good you posted this because it gives people a chance to compare their experiences. And there are differences in what we need at different ages. Jammie's right, there are many posts here that cover some of your concerns. It's a little shakey out there in the world no matter where you go ... we all need to go into our relocation moves with open eyes and do what makes our hearts sing.
I must add - it took me moving away to "find a better life" for me to realize this was where I needed to be - it was the only place I could imagine raising my family with the values and the sense of security we needed as a family... there are many things I miss about metro living, but I would never go back... I left to get a good education (masters) and worked for 5 years in Denver - I now make the same amount here as I did in Denver - so don't think you "can't" find good paying work - you just have to find the right opportunity.
I grew up in Eastern SD and LOVE west river weather - very very comperable to Denver - nothing like the east side - something else to remember - it is almost two distinct worlds!
My husband who grew up in Cali, moved to SD as a teen also could not wait to leave the state when we moved for my education, but he was the first one to say "we need to move back" when we had our first baby.... he knew this was the right place for us
Everyone has their own "right place" and I really hope everyone finds theirs - your home should be your safe haven - your place of rest - where ever that maybe!
Sioux Falls is not for everyone. Anyone or anyplace cannot please everyone, due to each person having his or her tastes. Sioux Falls is appealing to many who desire a safe, clean, affordable, and friendly place.
Granted, I do not like the drivers in Sioux Falls and think that some of them need to go back to drivers ed and learn how to drive and others lack the understanding of traffic flow which is better understood in places such as Denver, Omaha, KC, St. Louis, etc. The way that some drive, they would get run right off of the road in other places, especially in the east coast. At least, the Sioux Falls road system is not as hodge-podged as other cities such as Sioux City and Colorado Springs (a city three times as big as Sioux Falls (450,000 vs. 150,000 people) with only one freeway running though-what a concept).
I do not like the cold, but every place has its good and bad. But the springs and falls are wonderful at times and summer is not all that bad. I like it green here as opposed to places out west where it is brown and super dry at times.
I like Sioux Falls area for the affordability, still decent economy, progressiveness (in its leadership), safe streets, and cleanliness. I like the people by and large, although not behind the wheel. hahahaha. No place is perfect. Sioux Falls and wherever else is whatever you make of it.
I think part of the reason of the bad drivers to some effect is as you've mentioned, all of those cities, Denver, Omaha, et al, they have been a 'big' city for a lot longer than Sioux Falls have, maybe since Sioux Falls just keeps growing all the people that have lived in the area for a long period of time aren't used to the large amount of traffic.
Hello, everybody - I've been a lurker on these forums for awhile now, but I've been reading the South Dakota forum with great interest. There seem to be a lot of people who want to move to the state, and while I think that SD has some wonderful aspects, some of the posts on this forum can paint an unrealistic picture of what it's really like.
I was born in at Sioux Valley Hospital (now Sanford) in the '80s and I have lived in Yankton, Montrose, Brookings, and Sioux Falls. I graduated from Roosevelt High School in 2005, and until I was 20 years old, South Dakota was the only state in which I had ever lived. I'm putting this out here just in case anybody decides to question my SD credentials!
But there are some serious downsides to the state - while I loved South Dakota, I now live elsewhere for a couple of reasons. First of all, based on my personal observations and the paths pursued by my RHS classmates, the state is hemhorraging its young people. Why would I ever stay in South Dakota to go to USD or SDSU when I can go to a vastly superior school like the University of Minnesota for the exact same price due to reciprocity? Out of the college-bound seniors in my class, the vast majority of those who were accepted to UofM or other out-of-state schools left SD and didn't consider the state universities. Two kids ended up going to Harvard, and they did not get a single piece of mail from any state university except the School of Mines (which is an excellent place to go if you want to be an engineer). Not exactly a concerted effort to keep the best and the brightest in state, I would say.
Secondly, while SD public schools are pretty good in the cities, the smaller towns don't get their fair share of the resources, in my opinion. Books are outdated, funding is lacking, and in smaller areas, school districts have had to consolidate or adopt 4-day weeks to save money. A great deal of our public education system is funded by revenues from gambling, and whatever your moral views are on video lottery, etc., I think it's an incredibly poor and unsustainable way to fund education.
Another thing that you should know is that wages in South Dakota are terrible. I can't remember what the name of the study was, but our average wages are some of the lowest in the nation. Some people may counter with the fact that our cost of living is lower than average - and it can be. However, I don't think the lower cost of living really makes up for the low average wages. That's another reason that young people are leaving - there's no incentive to work certain jobs in SD when the money in the neighboring states is better for the same work!
If you're not from the Upper Midwest, you will probably find our winters to be quite brutal. I actually like the cold, and I wear T-shirts down to the 30s and sweatshirts until it gets to 15 degrees. But temperatures can and do get below zero during the winter, and if you are not used to snow and bitter cold, you will be in for a rude awakening. My suggestion to you is to punish yourself by trying to adapt to the cold - eventually you'll stop complaining about it, and eventually you'll get used to it.
I don't buy the fact that we have "nicer" people than the rest of the country. I would definitely consider us less neurotic than New Yorkers (no offense to New Yorkers, of course), but there are plenty of rude people in South Dakota. I'm going to be brutally honest here: too many people talk up small towns like they're some kind of utopia. Nothing could be further from the truth. While they are very pretty, they can be inconvenient, and if you're a private person, you'll hate living in a small town. When I lived in one, I couldn't stand the fact that everybody knew everybody else - to be honest, I didn't care if the neighbor lady two blocks down the street wanted to make small talk with me. I would much rather say a polite "hello" and leave it at that. Your mileage may vary. Personally, I think too much familiarity breeds gossip and a stifling atmosphere.
Be skeptical of many of the generalizations you hear about character. The phrase "small town values" sounds nice, but in my experience, it's a total joke. Many of the small town kids I grew up with did meth and were more sexually promiscuous than ANY of the kids I knew in Sioux Falls. The city kids were saints by comparison - fewer binge drinkers, fewer drug abusers, and fewer fights. I know that many South Dakotans are going to violently disagree with me on this one, but I'm trying to get you to take an impartial look at the place. Rose-colored views of small towns don't help the prospective immigrant, and alcohol abuse IS a serious problem in many of our towns, despite the fact that some people refuse to admit it.
As for traffic, it's nonexistent. That's something you'll love. On the other hand, drivers in eastern South Dakota are not very good, despite what you may see in those national surveys. To put it bluntly, the vast majority of Sioux Falls drivers are idiots (and when I was a resident, you could have probably put me in that category, too). It's bad on the interstates around Sioux Falls - a lot of drivers won't be courteous enough to get into the passing lane to let you onto the interstate, and as a result you will be forced to either gun it or halt at the yield sign and wait until it's clear. If you go out West, it's much, much better. If someone in an oncoming vehicle waves at you out West, it's a greeting, not an impolite gesture! Wave back and be friendly.
Taxes are low in South Dakota, which can be both good and bad. Nobody likes to pay taxes, including me, but our lack of a state income tax has caused some problems for the budget. The state government is too dependent on gambling and tourism revenues, and in this economic downturn, I seriously question whether or not this model is sustainable. If this recession lasts a long time, tourism revenues will be down and the non-addicted gamblers will stop going to casinos. That could be a problem.
Religion. This is a dangerous subject, so I won't say much about it. I was raised a Lutheran, as many South Dakotans are. One of the nice things about ELCA Lutherans is that they don't try to shove religion down your throat. They are moderate, deeply faithful, and respectful of other denominations and even other faiths. My church pastor routinely held dialogues with Jewish and Muslim residents of the city, and there was no "hellfire and brimstone" vitriol at all. Of course, other Christian denominations exist in SD, too, and they are not frowned upon, at least not in my experience. Sioux Falls even has a growing presence of atheists and agnostics, a development which I wholeheartedly welcome, even as a man of faith - I don't like religious hatred.
Our state is not "recession proof" - this is a load of BS that my brother seems to think is true. Just because the recession takes longer to reach SD does not mean, in any way, that times are good in the state. Hutchinson Technology just laid off its entire workforce. Raven Industries laid off several workers, including my former neighbor. Full-time jobs are becoming scarce, and the wages from part-time gigs are awful, but better than nothing. Do not come here and expect to land a job - there are no guarantees.
If you're older, or if you're married, South Dakota isn't a bad place to settle down for awhile. If you're young, I would advise you to stay away unless you're easily amused. Besides bars and outdoor activities, there's not a lot to do in SD. While some minor league sports teams like the Skyforce are good, there are no professional teams. Restaurants are mostly national chains or small local venues - there are a couple of ethnic places, but not many. Pheasant hunting is always good - if you do it, though, please respect both nature and our state law. Killing more birds than you are allotted is restricted by Game & Fish for a reason.
There is virtually no crime in South Dakota. You can leave your door unlocked and your car running. In the winter, the only thing they'd probably do is clean it off for you . Agriculture and Native American culture are both important parts of our state culture, so take a little effort to learn a bit about both subjects.
I hope that this post was useful to somebody - while I have some strong opinions, I believe they are reasonable. I personally wanted to get out of the state after 20 years to pursue opportunities that I could not have had in SD. There are some wonderful things about South Dakota, but I did want to point out that there are always some downsides. To be honest, I may be back someday when I get older. I think that South Dakota right now is better if you want to settle down - I grew up here, but I do not think that a young person should move to the state unless they have carefully considered what such a move would entail. There are more exciting places to see when you are in your 20s.
Hopefully I have laid out some of the positives and negatives of South Dakota. It's a beautiful state with many natural wonders, and if you don't decide to live here, you should at least visit once in your lifetime.
I don't agree with the part about USD, SDSU, and BHSU not trying to keep SD students in state. When I was in high school I got brochures and letters from these schools all the time. Even my guidance counselor tried to convince me to stay in state for school. I don't think the University of Minnesota is far superior to SD schools. At UofM you are just another face in a crowd of over 60,000 students. I just took a tour there last weekend and I have never been through something so impersonal and cold. I was a NUMBER, not a person. By the way, Minnesota and Hawaii are the ONLY states that give reciprocity to South Dakota.
About the weather- you've only experienced Eastern South Dakota. Come out West. It's a whole different ball game.
As for nicer people, I think the midwest in general has the nicest people. I personally think that people in Colorado are the nicest people in the US but we're not far behind. South Dakota has "face nice". We're nice to your face but we talk about you when you're gone. It's just gossiping...
I have to agree with you about "small town values" though. I think those teenagers from Belle Fourche learn WAY TOO MUCH about life from those farm animals.
Traffic here's a joke. If you're complaining about ANY type of traffic in South Dakota you're spoiled. It's Sunday driving 24/7 here.
There are a lot of things I don't like about South Dakota too, but overall it's a great place to raise your family and grow up. There is less worry and frustration out here and you can have some sense of morals too. I plan on leaving here soon, but I'm only 19 and I need to see what else there is out there for me. I'd love to come back someday though!
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