South Dakota

[hanleyfan]

My daughter lives in St. Onge, South Dakota and I am thinking about moving out there from Ohio, I have been there visiting a couple of times and liked it but was wondering if there is anything I need to know about living there before I make the plunge, my daughter wants us to move out there so bad she probably would not mention the bad things about the area to me and I don't want any surprises. To me Ohio is just getting too populated to suit me and since I am retired I can make the change right now.

[NavyVet1959]

Well, it's close to Sturgis, so there is that bit of interesting behavior (https://www.google.com/search?q=sturgis&client=firefox-a&hs=AaX&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=NjwjU576MKem2gXww4DACQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=638) for one week out of the year.

[MT Gianni]

Close to Belle Fourche, much like Eastern MT. Cold winters, warm summers, open spaces but no idea of taxes or cost of living. Tax free shop.ping in Montana, Billings and back in a day would be long but doable.

[sdcitizen]

I live in Belle Fourche, its rancher country, the quip about it being interesting one week a year is more like 15 days. Its windy, cold in the winter, and windy, hot in the summer. People are friendly, quite a conservative area. We have been taking the kid to see Santa in St. Onge before Christmas, it really is a throwback to smalltown usa about 30 years ago at that event, right down to the paper bags with peanuts and candies given out. Butte County taxes are quite reasonable, better than Meade County (Sturgis), and general cost of living is pretty low, but land prices are high within 30 miles of civilization. Anything you want to know about in particular?

[gkainz]

no state income tax ... which is a good thing, however, it means they have to cover expenses via other taxes. Property taxes are generally pretty reasonable, except perhaps in Custer, Pennington or Fall River counties where Black Hills property is considerably more expensive than a lot of the state.

[hanleyfan]

I can stand the cold and heat as long as the humidity is low, here in Ohio along the river valley the humidity gets so high that you sweat standing still, every summer I swear I am going to leave and maybe this year I will if I can sell my house.

[cheese1566]

I live a stones throw from St Onge in Spearfish. Spearfish is a good town of 11,000 + people. Belle Fourche is good and so is Sturgis.
Cost of living in Spearfish can be kinda high for the area some say, but I think the overall market is the same.
This winter was a cold killer, but generally it is mild. Hot summers but seems to be low humidity.
I would say not much for housing in St Onge unless you are prospecting a trailer home or maybe an acreage.

Job market is one that needs big improvement. Not much here except for schooling (Black Hills State University) or some light industry and firearm/ammo manufacturing in Sturgis. Rapid City is 45 minutes to the south and lots of people commute.

Being on the edge of the Black Hills, there is lots to see and do year round...more so in the summer. Hunting is good if you like big game (deer, occasional elk tag, antelope, turkey) but you have to travel a little for any bird hunting.

The Northern Black Hills is quiet and peacefull.

[Col4570]

Well, it's close to Sturgis, so there is that bit of interesting behavior (https://www.google.com/search?q=sturgis&client=firefox-a&hs=AaX&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=NjwjU576MKem2gXww4DACQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=638) for one week out of the year.

A sleepy Town eh.

[uscra112]

I may be out of date, but ten years or so ago when I was living in Minnisoter, I looked at buying a place in SD. I came away with the impression that the state is a lot more liberal, politically, than it seems. Of course that was on the eastern end.

Houses in the dying farm towns were going for less than a new Ford pickup. Hunters were buying them to use just a few weeks a year. I almost did, too, but the Corp transferred me back to Michigan, and that was that.

Now I'm retired in the Ohio valley, and loving it. Humidity? That's the piedmont, east of the Appalachians, from Virginia to South Carolina.

[sdcitizen]

Hey there cheese! If you are needing a fill on that CO2 bottle i can get that for ya. Been doing indoor league this winter?

[hanleyfan]

hey, uscra112 if your in the Little Switzerland of Ohio, thats Sugar Creek and that is long way from the Ohio valley, What I call the Ohio valley is right along the Ohio River, I was raised in Walnut Creek and that is just a few miles north of Sugar Creek and it does not get as bad up there as it does down here along the Ohio River, Man I ought to know, I have lived down here since 1974, Of course some people like it hot and humid, I got a friend that loves it. not me. When I visited my daughter in South Dakota I could tell the difference big time. I could breath a lot easier and I did not have sweat pouring off me like a river when I did some work outside.

[stephenj]

I would hazard a guess uscra112 is up in geneva ohio .. a bit north of amish land

[DHurtig]

Wages are low and cost of living is higher than it should be. SD is a right to work state, meaning unions are powerless here. SD is also an " at will " state, meaning you can be fired for any reason or no reason. The 2 lowest paying careers in the US are agriculture and tourism. The 2 main industries in SD are agriculture and tourism. As an employee, expect to be underpaid and have no rights.

The up side is that there is lots of public land to hunt, fish, hike or whatever suits you. There is mountains and wide open prairie in the west. A nice big river with huge lakes in the middle and the east is rolling farm and pasture land. The west has elk, whitetail and mule deer, antelope, bison, mountain lion, coyotes and fox. The east has ducks, pheasants, geese, big white tails, pheasants, glacial pot hole lakes and pheasants.

[gkainz]

Liberal vs conservative ... When I lived there is was definitely east river vs west river split, with east river being very liberal and drove the state by numbers.

[hanleyfan]

I am retired so work has no bearing in my decision, the cost of buying a place to live is my main concern, if property is too high I may have a problem, after selling my house I will only have 125,000 to invest in a house.

[DHurtig]

There are houses here that can be bought for $125k. Going to send you a PM.

[MaryB]

Should be able to find a house in a small farming town for under $50k if you don't mind a little sweat equity doing some repairs. You left out prairie dog hunting in SD, eastern part of the state is great for it. Some very good fishing in the little pothole lakes just over the border from me too

[M-Tecs]

You left out prairie dog hunting in SD, eastern part of the state is great for it.

Did you mean the western part of SD?

[largom]

Have hunted Prairie Dogs in Western S.D., great country, great people. I don't think you would have to worry to much about humidity, the wind does'nt stop blowing long enough for it to be humid.

Larry

[MaryB]

Eastern part just west of Sioux Falls has good prairie dog hunting too. Brother knows a doctor out there who owns a bunch of acreage and we hunt it. Good pheasants too but watch you don't break an ankle stepping in a pdog hole

[Bad Water Bill]

Congratulations on that nice SILVER boolit you just got young lady.

[M-Tecs]

Eastern part just west of Sioux Falls has good prairie dog hunting too. Brother knows a doctor out there who owns a bunch of acreage and we hunt it. Good pheasants too but watch you don't break an ankle stepping in a pdog hole

Interesting. I didn't know that. Learn something every day. The normal prairie dog range is west of the Missouri River. Much less common on the east side.

Figure 6. shows the estimated number of prairie dogs killed in South Dakota.

http://gfp.sd.gov/hunting/docs/PrairieDogShootingSurvey.pdf

[MaryB]

Young? Who? :lol: we aren't to far from the river out west of Sioux Falls where we usually hunt, guy has land in a dozen counties from Sioux Falls all the way to the river.