Closest to Ellsworth Air Force Base
Every neighborhood within half an hour of the main gate, timed and sorted.
Every drive time here was measured by routing from the middle of the neighborhood to the main gate, not estimated. They are in order, closest first. Add time at shift change, which is about as wild as our rush hour gets: a mix of folks heading out of Box Elder toward home and a run of four way stops all waiting on the same green. Two of the entries below are whole towns rather than subdivisions, and their distances are interstate miles rather than routed drive times, so they sit in the order approximately.
- 1 / Box Elder
Raider Pointe
Seven minutes, 1.9 miles. Finished, 118 of 124 parcels built, at a $327,500 recorded sale median. Four Douglas School District buildings within a mile by road.
- 2 / Box Elder
Liberty Plaza
Nine minutes, 2.3 miles. The newest, and the one wrapped around Box Elder's first downtown. Hills View Homes from $309,626 as of May 2026.
- 3 / Box Elder
Antelope Ridge
Twelve minutes, 3.5 miles. A rental community, not a subdivision. On this list because people ask about it constantly and the answer is hard to find.
- 4 / Box Elder
Freedom Estates
Thirteen minutes, 4.8 miles. The lowest recorded price band near the base, 45 sales at a $306,808 median inside a $28,000 spread. The tradeoff is that the schools are 3.3 miles, not a walk.
- 5 / Community guide
New Underwood
About 11 interstate miles, exit 78 to the main gate at exit 67A. Measured milepost to milepost rather than routed like the rest of this list, so treat the placement as approximate. The only town this close to the gate that still runs its own elementary, middle and high school.
- 6 / Rapid City
Shepherd Hills
Twenty one minutes, 10.1 miles. The largest new construction project in Rapid City, from $275,500 as of June 2026, on the near side of town for the base.
- 7 / Community guide
Rapid Valley
Twenty two minutes, 10.4 miles. The affordability corridor, and where most first time buyers in this metro end up.
- 8 / Community guide
Green Valley
About fifteen minutes north on the prairie, unincorporated and priced like it. The catch worth knowing before you fall for a house: this community is split between Douglas 51-1 and Rapid City Area 51-4, address by address.
- 9 / Rapid City
Auburn Hills
Twenty four minutes, 12 miles. Finished, on city water and sewer, at a $380,000 assessed median, with direct I-90 access off Haines Avenue.
- 10 / Rapid City
Apple Valley
Twenty five minutes, 10.6 miles. And the one nobody tells you about: the school district boundary runs through the middle of the subdivision, 127 parcels Rapid City and 47 Douglas.
- 11 / Rapid City
Elks Country Estates
Twenty five minutes, 12.5 miles. The southeast side is the short run to the base from the higher end of the market.
Two things worth knowing before you choose between renting and buying. Base housing occupancy at Ellsworth has never dropped below 95 percent, with waits running three to twelve months depending on rank category, so that is a planning fact rather than a preference. And you do not wait ninety days for resident hunting and fishing here: service members continuously stationed in South Dakota qualify immediately, and so do their spouses.
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Last updated August 2026
This page is general information, not legal, tax, lending or financial advice. Facts and figures are cited from public sources as of August 2026 and change over time. Henry Roy is a licensed real estate professional with Ascend Realty in South Dakota. Equal Housing Opportunity.