Compare Black Hills Communities
25 towns and unincorporated communities. Pick two to four and the full table appears underneath. Commutes are driving times to the Ellsworth main gate and downtown Rapid City. Median sold prices, where we have them, come from the MLS over the trailing twelve months with the source, window and sale count printed under each figure. Typical price bands are practical search ranges, not medians, and are labelled separately.
2 of 25 communities
Price filters only consider communities with a published trailing twelve month median, so towns without one do not appear in a price filter.
The five facts that decide a shortlist
Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Everything within about twenty five minutes of downtown Rapid City or the Ellsworth main gate, where most of the newer inventory, the shortest commutes and the jurisdiction questions about city versus county service are.
- Typical price
- No published median exists for the community. Closed sales on the specific street are the only figure worth quoting here.
- To Ellsworth AFB
- About 15 minutes northDriving time and distance, off peak.
- To downtown Rapid City
- About 6 miles northwestDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
- Utility pattern
- Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
- School district
- Split between Douglas 51-1 and Rapid City Area 51-4. Address specific.Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
- Typical price
- About $350,000 average sold, 274 sales over 12 monthsAverage sold $349,971. Black Hills MLS, single family, 12 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 274 closed sales.
- To Ellsworth AFB
- 22 min, 10.4 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
- To downtown Rapid City
- 11 min, 5.2 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Utility pattern
- Utility service varies by address. Rapid Valley Sanitary District serves portions of the area, while properties outside district service may use private wells and septic systems.
- School district
- Mostly Rapid City Area School District 51-4, with portions in Douglas 51-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Between Box Elder, Colonial Pine Hills
The rows below are the ones where these do not read the same. Ordered as the table runs, not by importance.
- Jurisdiction
- Box ElderCity of Box ElderColonial Pine HillsUnincorporated. There is no city government. Pennington County zones the lots, issues the permits and patrols the roads.
- Corridor
- Box ElderI-90Colonial Pine HillsUS 16 and Sheridan Lake Road
- To downtown Rapid City
- Box Elder19 min, 10.9 miColonial Pine HillsRoughly 6 miles northeast
- To Ellsworth AFB
- Box Elder9 min, 2.3 miColonial Pine HillsAbout 25 to 30 minutes, through or around Rapid City
- Winter driving
- Box ElderI-90 is state maintained and the city clears the newer plats. Box Elder publishes no plow priority map, so ask a neighbor how the street clears after a real storm.Colonial Pine HillsYou are 900 feet above Rapid City on grades, and some subdivision roads are privately plowed. Snow tires are not a luxury item up here.
- Typical price
- Box Elder$340k to $400kColonial Pine HillsAbout $683,000 average sold in the Sheridan Lake Road MLS area, 71 sales over 12 months
Box Elder, Colonial Pine Hills
Rows marked as differing are the ones where these do not read alike. Rows without the mark sit on a quiet background because they say the same thing in every column.
| Attribute | Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorColonial Pine Hills | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | ||
| Region | Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor | Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor |
| County | Pennington County | Pennington County |
| JurisdictiondiffersCity versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work. | City of Box Elder | Unincorporated. There is no city government. Pennington County zones the lots, issues the permits and patrols the roads. |
| Corridordiffers | I-90 | US 16 and Sheridan Lake Road |
| To downtown Rapid Citydiffers | 19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak. | Roughly 6 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel. |
| To Ellsworth AFBdiffers | 9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak. | About 25 to 30 minutes, through or around Rapid CityDriving time and distance, off peak. |
| Winter drivingdiffers | I-90 is state maintained and the city clears the newer plats. Box Elder publishes no plow priority map, so ask a neighbor how the street clears after a real storm. | You are 900 feet above Rapid City on grades, and some subdivision roads are privately plowed. Snow tires are not a luxury item up here. |
| Housing and lots | ||
| Typical pricediffers | $340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales. | About $683,000 average sold in the Sheridan Lake Road MLS area, 71 sales over 12 monthsAverage sold $682,615. Black Hills MLS, single family, 12 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 71 closed sales. |
| Housing agediffers | Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement | Platted over several decades, so 1970s cabins and current builds sit on the same road. |
| New constructiondiffers | Active, with subdivisions still building | Limited, mostly infill and small projects |
| Acreagediffers | Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size. | Acreage parcels are common here |
| Typical lotdiffers | Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats | Large by Rapid City standards, from generous lots to several acres. |
| Covenants and HOAdiffersCovenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel. | Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat. | Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others |
| Utilities and rules | ||
| Utility patterndiffers | City water and sewer inside the limits | Mostly private well and septic |
| Waterdiffers | City of Box Elder municipal | Depends entirely on the parcel. The Colonial Pine Hills Sanitary District serves roughly 430 connections. Several separate water associations serve other pockets, and the rest of the area is on private wells. |
| Sewerdiffers | City of Box Elder municipal | Private on-site septic throughout, permitted by Pennington County. There is no municipal sewer and no lagoon serving the area. |
| Short term rentalsdiffers | A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up. | This is unincorporated county, so there is no municipal short-term rental ordinance. County zoning and subdivision covenants are what govern, and the covenants out here are often stricter than the county. |
| Schools | ||
| School districtdiffers | Douglas School District 51-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district. | Rapid City Area School District 51-4Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district. |
| Daily errands | ||
| Groceriesdiffers | Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town. | Everything is in Rapid City, roughly fifteen minutes down US 16. |
| Healthcarediffers | Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City. | No clinic up here. Monument Health Rapid City Hospital and the Rapid City clinics are the answer. |
| Recreationdiffers | The Liberty Center, the city park and ballfield network, and the South Dakota Air and Space Museum are the in-town recreation. The Badlands are a day trip, not your neighborhood park. | Sheridan Lake, Pactola, the Mickelson Trail and the whole central Hills network start where the subdivisions end. |
| Mapped subdivisions | ||
| Outlines on filediffers | 16 mapped outlines, 3 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls. | No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet. |
| The trade | ||
| Housing and patterndiffers | A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned. | Ponderosa pine subdivisions platted over decades, no two alike, on county rules six miles from the city. |
| What you gaindiffers | The Ellsworth main gate is in town, 9 minutes from most addresses, on city water and sewer, with the region's newest housing pipeline. | Hills elevation, trees and lot size with a Rapid City commute and Rapid City schools. |
| What you give updiffers | Comparable sales run thin inside brand new subdivisions and builder incentives move the effective price without moving the list price. I-90 fills at shift change, and the flight line is close enough that you hear it. | Well or association water, septic on every parcel, private roads in places, and wildfire exposure that affects insurance. |
- Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorColonial Pine Hills
Where it sits
Region
- Box Elder
- Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
County
- Box Elder
- Pennington County
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Pennington County
Jurisdictiondiffers
City versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.- Box Elder
- City of Box Elder
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Unincorporated. There is no city government. Pennington County zones the lots, issues the permits and patrols the roads.
Corridordiffers
- Box Elder
- I-90
- Colonial Pine Hills
- US 16 and Sheridan Lake Road
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers
- Box Elder
- 19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Roughly 6 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To Ellsworth AFBdiffers
- Box Elder
- 9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- About 25 to 30 minutes, through or around Rapid CityDriving time and distance, off peak.
Winter drivingdiffers
- Box Elder
- I-90 is state maintained and the city clears the newer plats. Box Elder publishes no plow priority map, so ask a neighbor how the street clears after a real storm.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- You are 900 feet above Rapid City on grades, and some subdivision roads are privately plowed. Snow tires are not a luxury item up here.
Housing and lots
Typical pricediffers
- Box Elder
- $340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- About $683,000 average sold in the Sheridan Lake Road MLS area, 71 sales over 12 monthsAverage sold $682,615. Black Hills MLS, single family, 12 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 71 closed sales.
Housing agediffers
- Box Elder
- Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Platted over several decades, so 1970s cabins and current builds sit on the same road.
New constructiondiffers
- Box Elder
- Active, with subdivisions still building
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Acreagediffers
- Box Elder
- Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Acreage parcels are common here
Typical lotdiffers
- Box Elder
- Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Large by Rapid City standards, from generous lots to several acres.
Covenants and HOAdiffers
Covenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel.- Box Elder
- Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers
- Box Elder
- City water and sewer inside the limits
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Mostly private well and septic
Waterdiffers
- Box Elder
- City of Box Elder municipal
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Depends entirely on the parcel. The Colonial Pine Hills Sanitary District serves roughly 430 connections. Several separate water associations serve other pockets, and the rest of the area is on private wells.
Sewerdiffers
- Box Elder
- City of Box Elder municipal
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Private on-site septic throughout, permitted by Pennington County. There is no municipal sewer and no lagoon serving the area.
Short term rentalsdiffers
- Box Elder
- A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- This is unincorporated county, so there is no municipal short-term rental ordinance. County zoning and subdivision covenants are what govern, and the covenants out here are often stricter than the county.
Schools
School districtdiffers
- Box Elder
- Douglas School District 51-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Rapid City Area School District 51-4Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Daily errands
Groceriesdiffers
- Box Elder
- Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Everything is in Rapid City, roughly fifteen minutes down US 16.
Healthcarediffers
- Box Elder
- Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- No clinic up here. Monument Health Rapid City Hospital and the Rapid City clinics are the answer.
Recreationdiffers
- Box Elder
- The Liberty Center, the city park and ballfield network, and the South Dakota Air and Space Museum are the in-town recreation. The Badlands are a day trip, not your neighborhood park.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Sheridan Lake, Pactola, the Mickelson Trail and the whole central Hills network start where the subdivisions end.
Mapped subdivisions
Outlines on filediffers
- Box Elder
- 16 mapped outlines, 3 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
The trade
Housing and patterndiffers
- Box Elder
- A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Ponderosa pine subdivisions platted over decades, no two alike, on county rules six miles from the city.
What you gaindiffers
- Box Elder
- The Ellsworth main gate is in town, 9 minutes from most addresses, on city water and sewer, with the region's newest housing pipeline.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Hills elevation, trees and lot size with a Rapid City commute and Rapid City schools.
What you give updiffers
- Box Elder
- Comparable sales run thin inside brand new subdivisions and builder incentives move the effective price without moving the list price. I-90 fills at shift change, and the flight line is close enough that you hear it.
- Colonial Pine Hills
- Well or association water, septic on every parcel, private roads in places, and wildfire exposure that affects insurance.
Commute figures are driving times off peak, from the community guide each card links to. Median sold prices come from the MLS, and each figure carries its own source, window and closing count, because Sturgis, Spearfish and the northern hills report through a different MLS than Rapid City. Under five closings there is no median, and the price row says so. Five to nine closings carries a small sample note. School districts follow the official boundary for the address, and the district office is the only place to confirm an assignment. Short term rental lines are summaries. Read the guide and the current ordinance before you count on rental income.
The filters use these definitions: under $400k is the MLS sold figure for the town, a median where one is published and otherwise the average sold, comes in under $400,000; close to ellsworth is 25 minutes or less to the Ellsworth main gate; close to rapid city is 20 minutes or less to downtown Rapid City; short commute is 15 minutes or less to either downtown Rapid City or the Ellsworth gate; new construction available is the guide establishes active or limited new construction; acreage available is acreage is common or present in the guide; city water and sewer is city water and sewer across the community; smaller market is fewer than 100 closed single family sales in the trailing twelve months; more rural is acreage is common, or water and sewer are not municipal throughout; established housing is the guide classifies the housing stock as established, meaning largely pre 2000; newer housing is the guide classifies a meaningful share of the housing stock as 2000s or later.
Every row here is a townwide summary and a single parcel can read differently. Buyer due diligence should include verifying water and sewer service, school assignment, recorded covenants and HOA obligations, rental rules, legal access, insurance availability and which jurisdiction inspects and permits the work, for the exact address. Confirm with the city or county, the utility or district, the school district office, the title company and your insurer as applicable.
Last updated August 2026
Want to talk through the tradeoffs?
Two towns can look identical in a table and feel nothing alike on a Tuesday night in February. Call or text and tell me which rows above are the ones you cannot live with, and we can work the list down from there.
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Send the address and we can talk it through. The details that change from one property to the next are jurisdiction, water and sewer, the school the district assigns, covenants, road maintenance and the rest of what never shows up on a listing.