Relocation

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.

Narrow it

15 of 25 communities

Under $400k Close to Ellsworth Close to Rapid City Short commute New construction available Acreage available City water and sewer Smaller market More rural Established housing Newer housing Clear filters Clear everything

Price filters only consider communities with a published trailing twelve month median, so towns without one do not appear in a price filter.

Browse

The five facts that decide a shortlist

Find a community

Selected, 4 of 4

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.

Piedmont
Typical price
$375k to $575kMedian sold $425,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 127 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
36 min from the Prairie Haven side, closer to 51 from the plats highest up the foothillsDriving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
About 26 minutes from the Prairie Haven side, longer from the upper platsDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
School district
Meade School District 46-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide
Rapid City
Typical price
$300k to $450kMedian sold $349,950. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 706 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
24 min, 13.8 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
5 min, 1.5 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
City water and sewer inside the limits
School district
Rapid City Area Schools 51-4Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide

Northern Hills and I-90

The Sturgis to Belle Fourche side of the Hills, with its own hospitals, schools and employers, so a job in Spearfish or Sturgis does not have to mean a Rapid City commute.

Belle Fourche
Typical price
$275k to $375kMedian sold $300,000. Mount Rushmore Area MLS, all residential, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 113 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
About an hourDriving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
About 55 to 60 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
School district
Belle Fourche School District 9-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide
Lead and Deadwood
Typical price
$320k to $500kMedian sold $385,000. Mount Rushmore Area MLS, all residential, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 117 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 55 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
About 50 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify water and sewer service for the address.
School district
Lead-Deadwood School District 40-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide
Newell
Typical price
No figure published. Newell is Mount Rushmore Area MLS territory and the current feed covers only the Black Hills MLS, so any count from that feed is a floor rather than this town's price level.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 60 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To downtown Rapid City
About 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
School district
Newell School District 09-2Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide
Spearfish
Typical price
$400k to $600kMedian sold $475,000. Mount Rushmore Area MLS, all residential, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 199 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
68 min, 57.0 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
53 min, 47.8 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
City water and sewer are typical inside city-served areas. Acreage outside the city can use wells, septic systems or other service arrangements, so utilities should be confirmed by address.
School district
Spearfish School District 40-2Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide
St. Onge
Typical price
No figure published. St. Onge is Mount Rushmore Area MLS territory and the current feed covers only the Black Hills MLS, so a zero here would be a gap in the data rather than a fact about the market.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 45 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To downtown Rapid City
About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Mostly private well and septic
School district
Spearfish 40-2 at the townsite, with Belle Fourche 09-1 to the north and Meade 46-1 to the east. Parcel specific.Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Selected Guide
Sturgis
Typical price
$300k to $450kMedian sold $365,000. Mount Rushmore Area MLS, all residential, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 97 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
48 min, 38.2 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
33 min, 28.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify water and sewer service for the address.
School district
Meade School District 46-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide

Central and Southern Hills

In the timber and on the far southern edge, where lots get larger, well and septic get common, and the drive to a full service hospital becomes part of the decision.

Buffalo Gap
Typical price
One single family sale shows in the Black Hills MLS over 24 months, at $80,000. One closing is a sample of one rather than a price level, so read it that way.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 55 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To downtown Rapid City
About 45 miles, roughly 56 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
School district
Hot Springs School District 23-2, despite the town being in Custer CountyAssignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Selected Guide
Edgemont
Typical price
About $155,000 average sold, 13 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $155,285. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 13 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 110 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To downtown Rapid City
About 100 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Utility pattern
City water and sewer inside the limits
School district
Edgemont School District 23-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Selected Guide
Hermosa
Typical price
About $650,000 average sold, 28 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $648,229. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 28 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 35 minutes, north through Rapid City to I-90Driving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
26 min, 18.6 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
School district
Custer School District 16-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide
Hot Springs
Typical price
Median sold $315,150Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 24 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
About an hour and fifteen minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
About 60 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify water and sewer service for the address.
School district
Hot Springs School District 23-2Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide
Keystone
Typical price
About $618,000 average sold, but only 9 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $618,449. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 9 closed sales, small sample.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 40 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
About 25 minutes northeastDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
School district
Hill City School District 51-2Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide

Prairie and Badlands

East of the Hills on the open prairie, where lots run larger, water is often a private well, services are thinner and the wind and the drive are the tradeoffs.

New Underwood
Typical price
About $320,000 average sold, 20 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $319,585. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 20 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 11 miles, exit 78 to the main gate at exit 67ADistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To downtown Rapid City
About 18 miles west on I-90Distance 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
New Underwood School District 51-3Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide
Wall
Typical price
About $270,000 average sold, 19 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $270,435. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 19 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 43 miles westDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To downtown Rapid City
About 50 miles west on I-90Distance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Utility pattern
City water and sewer inside the limits
School district
Wall School District 51-5Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide

What changes

Between Buffalo Gap, Box Elder, Edgemont, St. Onge

The rows below are the ones where these do not read the same. Ordered as the table runs, not by importance.

Region: Buffalo GapCentral and Southern HillsBox ElderRapid City and the Ellsworth corridorEdgemontCentral and Southern HillsSt. OngeNorthern Hills and I-90
County: Buffalo GapCuster CountyBox ElderPennington CountyEdgemontFall River CountySt. OngeLawrence County
Jurisdiction: Buffalo GapIncorporated town of Buffalo Gap, with Custer County outside the limits.Box ElderCity of Box ElderEdgemontIncorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.St. OngeUnincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them.
Corridor: Buffalo GapSD 79Box ElderI-90EdgemontUS 18 and SD 471St. OngeSD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood
To downtown Rapid City: Buffalo GapAbout 45 miles, roughly 56 minutesBox Elder19 min, 10.9 miEdgemontAbout 100 miles northeastSt. OngeAbout 44 miles, roughly 48 minutes
To Ellsworth AFB: Buffalo GapAbout 55 milesBox Elder9 min, 2.3 miEdgemontAbout 110 milesSt. OngeAbout 45 miles

Side by side

Buffalo Gap, Box Elder, Edgemont, St. Onge

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.

The selected Black Hills communities compared on location, housing, utilities, schools, daily errands, mapped subdivisions and the trade each one asks for
Attribute	Central and Southern HillsBuffalo Gap	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBox Elder	Central and Southern HillsEdgemont	Northern Hills and I-90St. Onge
Where it sits
Regiondiffers	Central and Southern Hills	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor	Central and Southern Hills	Northern Hills and I-90
Countydiffers	Custer County	Pennington County	Fall River County	Lawrence County
JurisdictiondiffersCity versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.	Incorporated town of Buffalo Gap, with Custer County outside the limits.	City of Box Elder	Incorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.	Unincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them.
Corridordiffers	SD 79	I-90	US 18 and SD 471	SD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers	About 45 miles, roughly 56 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.	19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 100 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.	About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
To Ellsworth AFBdiffers	About 55 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.	9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 110 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.	About 45 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Winter drivingdiffers	Highway 79 is state maintained and is the connection to Hot Springs and Rapid City. Off it, this is open prairie with blowing snow.	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.	Cold semi-arid country with a recorded low of 40 below. US 18 is the lifeline and it is a long way to anywhere in a storm.	Highway 34 is state maintained and connects three directions. County and private roads off it are a different conversation.
Housing and lots
Typical pricediffers	One single family sale shows in the Black Hills MLS over 24 months, at $80,000. One closing is a sample of one rather than a price level, so read it that way.	$340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.	About $155,000 average sold, 13 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $155,285. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 13 closed sales.	No figure published. St. Onge is Mount Rushmore Area MLS territory and the current feed covers only the Black Hills MLS, so a zero here would be a gap in the data rather than a fact about the market.
Housing agediffers	An 1885 to 1939 historic core with an aging housing stock and about a fifth of units vacant.	Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement	An 1890 railroad town, so mostly older stock, with about a quarter of units vacant at the 2020 count.	An 1891 townsite with genuinely old buildings, surrounded by ranch and acreage property of every era.
New constructiondiffers	None underway	Active, with subdivisions still building	None underway	Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Acreagediffers	Acreage parcels are common here	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.	Acreage parcels are common here	Acreage parcels are common here
Typical lotdiffers	A handful of historic townsite lots, with grassland and ranch ground around them.	Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats	Town lots inside the limits, ranch scale outside them.	Small townsite lots, with acreage and ranch ground around them.
Covenants and HOAdiffersCovenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel.	Few plats here carry recorded covenants	Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.	Few plats here carry recorded covenants	Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers	Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it	City water and sewer inside the limits	City water and sewer inside the limits	Mostly private well and septic
Waterdiffers	Town of Buffalo Gap municipal water from a single well, serving about 93 connections. Rural parcels are on private wells.	City of Box Elder municipal	City of Edgemont municipal water. Rural parcels are on private wells.	The Saint Onge Sewer and Water Company serves about 78 connections around the townsite, with a clean compliance record. Parcels outside that system are on private wells. There is no rural water district covering this area.
Sewerdiffers	Not documented in the public record. There is no municipal wastewater project or discharge permit on file that I could find. Confirm with the town finance officer before assuming either town sewer or septic.	City of Box Elder municipal	City sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.	The water company's name implies sewer service, but I have not been able to verify from the public record which parcels it reaches. Assume private septic outside the townsite and confirm the rest before closing.
Short term rentalsdiffers	This is hunting and grassland country rather than a tourism corridor. Demand is seasonal and specific.	A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.	Edgemont is not a tourism town. Short-term rental demand here is work crews, hunting season and Rally traffic passing through, not visitors staying to see something.	Unincorporated Lawrence County, so no municipal ordinance applies. Note that unincorporated Lawrence County declined to require a vacation home rental permit, so there is no county permit to obtain either.
Schools
School districtdiffers	Hot Springs School District 23-2, despite the town being in Custer CountyAssignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.	Douglas School District 51-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.	Edgemont School District 23-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.	Spearfish 40-2 at the townsite, with Belle Fourche 09-1 to the north and Meade 46-1 to the east. Parcel specific.Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Daily errands
Groceriesdiffers	Nothing full service in town. Hot Springs, about 14 miles south, is where errands happen.	Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.	Small-town grocery and convenience in Edgemont, with Hot Springs about 35 miles east for more.	Nothing in town. Spearfish is eleven miles southeast and Belle Fourche thirteen northwest.
Healthcarediffers	Fall River Health Services in Hot Springs, a 25 bed critical access hospital with a 24 hour emergency department and a rural health clinic, about 18 minutes away.	Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.	No hospital in town. Fall River Health Services in Hot Springs is a 25 bed critical access hospital with a 24 hour emergency department.	Monument Health Spearfish Hospital, a 35 bed facility with a 24 hour emergency department, about 18 minutes away.
Recreationdiffers	Buffalo Gap National Grassland, hunting, rock collecting and OHV country, with the Cheyenne River nearby.	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.	The hundred-year-old city park, the campground, the Elk Mountains and open country in every direction.	Creek bottoms, hay ground and hunting country, with Spearfish Canyon and the northern Hills half an hour away.
Mapped subdivisions
Outlines on filediffers	No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.	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.	No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
The trade
Housing and patterndiffers	A nearly intact turn-of-the-century western streetscape on the National Register, mostly quiet, at the gate to the grassland.	A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.	A working BNSF crew-change town founded in 1890, at the far southern edge of the Hills below the Elk Mountains.	An 1891 French-Canadian railroad townsite that is now a cattle auction crossroads and an acreage corridor.
What you gaindiffers	Eighteen minutes from the hospital in Hot Springs, with 600,000 acres of grassland out the door and one MLS closing in two years to price from.	The Ellsworth main gate is in town, 9 minutes from most addresses, on city water and sewer, with the region's newest housing pipeline.	More town per dollar than anywhere else in the region, with its own school district and city utilities.	The cheapest ground in the northern Hills that still puts you eleven miles from a hospital and sixteen from three towns.
What you give updiffers	No school, no store and no services in town, an aging water system with an open compliance item, and an undocumented sewer situation.	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.	A hundred miles from Rapid City, 35 from a hospital, with two unresolved questions hanging over the local economy.	A three-way school district split you have to verify per parcel, and no services of any kind in town.

Central and Southern HillsBuffalo Gap
Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBox Elder
Central and Southern HillsEdgemont
Northern Hills and I-90St. Onge

Where it sits

Regiondiffers

Buffalo Gap: Central and Southern Hills
Box Elder: Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Edgemont: Central and Southern Hills
St. Onge: Northern Hills and I-90

Countydiffers

Buffalo Gap: Custer County
Box Elder: Pennington County
Edgemont: Fall River County
St. Onge: Lawrence County

Jurisdictiondiffers

City versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.

Buffalo Gap: Incorporated town of Buffalo Gap, with Custer County outside the limits.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder
Edgemont: Incorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.
St. Onge: Unincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them.

Corridordiffers

Buffalo Gap: SD 79
Box Elder: I-90
Edgemont: US 18 and SD 471
St. Onge: SD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood

To downtown Rapid Citydiffers

Buffalo Gap: About 45 miles, roughly 56 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Box Elder: 19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Edgemont: About 100 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
St. Onge: About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.

To Ellsworth AFBdiffers

Buffalo Gap: About 55 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Box Elder: 9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Edgemont: About 110 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
St. Onge: About 45 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.

Winter drivingdiffers

Buffalo Gap: Highway 79 is state maintained and is the connection to Hot Springs and Rapid City. Off it, this is open prairie with blowing snow.
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.
Edgemont: Cold semi-arid country with a recorded low of 40 below. US 18 is the lifeline and it is a long way to anywhere in a storm.
St. Onge: Highway 34 is state maintained and connects three directions. County and private roads off it are a different conversation.

Housing and lots

Typical pricediffers

Buffalo Gap: One single family sale shows in the Black Hills MLS over 24 months, at $80,000. One closing is a sample of one rather than a price level, so read it that way.
Box Elder: $340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.
Edgemont: About $155,000 average sold, 13 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $155,285. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 13 closed sales.
St. Onge: No figure published. St. Onge is Mount Rushmore Area MLS territory and the current feed covers only the Black Hills MLS, so a zero here would be a gap in the data rather than a fact about the market.

Housing agediffers

Buffalo Gap: An 1885 to 1939 historic core with an aging housing stock and about a fifth of units vacant.
Box Elder: Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement
Edgemont: An 1890 railroad town, so mostly older stock, with about a quarter of units vacant at the 2020 count.
St. Onge: An 1891 townsite with genuinely old buildings, surrounded by ranch and acreage property of every era.

New constructiondiffers

Buffalo Gap: None underway
Box Elder: Active, with subdivisions still building
Edgemont: None underway
St. Onge: Limited, mostly infill and small projects

Acreagediffers

Buffalo Gap: Acreage parcels are common here
Box Elder: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.
Edgemont: Acreage parcels are common here
St. Onge: Acreage parcels are common here

Typical lotdiffers

Buffalo Gap: A handful of historic townsite lots, with grassland and ranch ground around them.
Box Elder: Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats
Edgemont: Town lots inside the limits, ranch scale outside them.
St. Onge: Small townsite lots, with acreage and ranch ground around them.

Covenants and HOAdiffers

Covenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel.

Buffalo Gap: Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Box Elder: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.
Edgemont: Few plats here carry recorded covenants
St. Onge: Few plats here carry recorded covenants

Utilities and rules

Utility patterndiffers

Buffalo Gap: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
Box Elder: City water and sewer inside the limits
Edgemont: City water and sewer inside the limits
St. Onge: Mostly private well and septic

Waterdiffers

Buffalo Gap: Town of Buffalo Gap municipal water from a single well, serving about 93 connections. Rural parcels are on private wells.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder municipal
Edgemont: City of Edgemont municipal water. Rural parcels are on private wells.
St. Onge: The Saint Onge Sewer and Water Company serves about 78 connections around the townsite, with a clean compliance record. Parcels outside that system are on private wells. There is no rural water district covering this area.

Sewerdiffers

Buffalo Gap: Not documented in the public record. There is no municipal wastewater project or discharge permit on file that I could find. Confirm with the town finance officer before assuming either town sewer or septic.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder municipal
Edgemont: City sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.
St. Onge: The water company's name implies sewer service, but I have not been able to verify from the public record which parcels it reaches. Assume private septic outside the townsite and confirm the rest before closing.

Short term rentalsdiffers

Buffalo Gap: This is hunting and grassland country rather than a tourism corridor. Demand is seasonal and specific.
Box Elder: A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.
Edgemont: Edgemont is not a tourism town. Short-term rental demand here is work crews, hunting season and Rally traffic passing through, not visitors staying to see something.
St. Onge: Unincorporated Lawrence County, so no municipal ordinance applies. Note that unincorporated Lawrence County declined to require a vacation home rental permit, so there is no county permit to obtain either.

Schools

School districtdiffers

Buffalo Gap: Hot Springs School District 23-2, despite the town being in Custer CountyAssignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Box Elder: Douglas School District 51-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Edgemont: Edgemont School District 23-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
St. Onge: Spearfish 40-2 at the townsite, with Belle Fourche 09-1 to the north and Meade 46-1 to the east. Parcel specific.Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.

Daily errands

Groceriesdiffers

Buffalo Gap: Nothing full service in town. Hot Springs, about 14 miles south, is where errands happen.
Box Elder: Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.
Edgemont: Small-town grocery and convenience in Edgemont, with Hot Springs about 35 miles east for more.
St. Onge: Nothing in town. Spearfish is eleven miles southeast and Belle Fourche thirteen northwest.

Healthcarediffers

Buffalo Gap: Fall River Health Services in Hot Springs, a 25 bed critical access hospital with a 24 hour emergency department and a rural health clinic, about 18 minutes away.
Box Elder: Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.
Edgemont: No hospital in town. Fall River Health Services in Hot Springs is a 25 bed critical access hospital with a 24 hour emergency department.
St. Onge: Monument Health Spearfish Hospital, a 35 bed facility with a 24 hour emergency department, about 18 minutes away.

Recreationdiffers

Buffalo Gap: Buffalo Gap National Grassland, hunting, rock collecting and OHV country, with the Cheyenne River nearby.
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.
Edgemont: The hundred-year-old city park, the campground, the Elk Mountains and open country in every direction.
St. Onge: Creek bottoms, hay ground and hunting country, with Spearfish Canyon and the northern Hills half an hour away.

Mapped subdivisions

Outlines on filediffers

Buffalo Gap: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
Box Elder: 16 mapped outlines, 3 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.
Edgemont: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
St. Onge: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.

The trade

Housing and patterndiffers

Buffalo Gap: A nearly intact turn-of-the-century western streetscape on the National Register, mostly quiet, at the gate to the grassland.
Box Elder: A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.
Edgemont: A working BNSF crew-change town founded in 1890, at the far southern edge of the Hills below the Elk Mountains.
St. Onge: An 1891 French-Canadian railroad townsite that is now a cattle auction crossroads and an acreage corridor.

What you gaindiffers

Buffalo Gap: Eighteen minutes from the hospital in Hot Springs, with 600,000 acres of grassland out the door and one MLS closing in two years to price from.
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.
Edgemont: More town per dollar than anywhere else in the region, with its own school district and city utilities.
St. Onge: The cheapest ground in the northern Hills that still puts you eleven miles from a hospital and sixteen from three towns.

What you give updiffers

Buffalo Gap: No school, no store and no services in town, an aging water system with an open compliance item, and an undocumented sewer situation.
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.
Edgemont: A hundred miles from Rapid City, 35 from a hospital, with two unresolved questions hanging over the local economy.
St. Onge: A three-way school district split you have to verify per parcel, and no services of any kind in town.

Where this comes from

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

Contact

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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Address Questions

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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.

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ComparingBuffalo Gap, Box Elder, Edgemont, St. Onge

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