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.

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1 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.

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The five facts that decide a shortlist

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Selected, 3 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.

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.
Compare Guide

What changes

Between Buffalo Gap, Newell, Box Elder

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 HillsNewellNorthern Hills and I-90Box ElderRapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
County: Buffalo GapCuster CountyNewellButte CountyBox ElderPennington County
Jurisdiction: Buffalo GapIncorporated town of Buffalo Gap, with Custer County outside the limits.NewellIncorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.Box ElderCity of Box Elder
Corridor: Buffalo GapSD 79NewellUS 212 and SD 79Box ElderI-90
To downtown Rapid City: Buffalo GapAbout 45 miles, roughly 56 minutesNewellAbout 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesBox Elder19 min, 10.9 mi
To Ellsworth AFB: Buffalo GapAbout 55 milesNewellAbout 60 milesBox Elder9 min, 2.3 mi

Side by side

Buffalo Gap, Newell, Box Elder

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	Northern Hills and I-90Newell	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBox Elder
Where it sits
Regiondiffers	Central and Southern Hills	Northern Hills and I-90	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Countydiffers	Custer County	Butte County	Pennington County
JurisdictiondiffersCity versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.	Incorporated town of Buffalo Gap, with Custer County outside the limits.	Incorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.	City of Box Elder
Corridordiffers	SD 79	US 212 and SD 79	I-90
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers	About 45 miles, roughly 56 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.	19 min, 10.9 miDriving 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.	About 60 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.
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.	US 212 and SD 79 are state maintained, and the state rebuilt the Nisland to Newell stretch and the south junction in 2025. Off the highway it is open country and wind moves 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.
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.	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.	$340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.
Housing agediffers	An 1885 to 1939 historic core with an aging housing stock and about a fifth of units vacant.	A 1910 townsite, so genuinely old in-town stock with newer building scattered around it.	Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement
New constructiondiffers	None underway	Limited, mostly infill and small projects	Active, with subdivisions still building
Acreagediffers	Acreage parcels are common here	Acreage parcels are common here	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.
Typical lotdiffers	A handful of historic townsite lots, with grassland and ranch ground around them.	Small townsite lots, then irrigated project acreage, then rangeland, in that order as you drive out.	Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats
Covenants and HOAdiffersCovenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel.	Few plats here carry recorded covenants	Few plats here carry recorded covenants	Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers	Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it	Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it	City water and sewer inside the limits
Waterdiffers	Town of Buffalo Gap municipal water from a single well, serving about 93 connections. Rural parcels are on private wells.	Town of Newell municipal water inside the limits, from groundwater, serving about 378 connections. Rural properties are on the Butte-Meade Sanitary Water District or on private wells. Irrigation water from the Belle Fourche Irrigation District is an entirely separate thing from domestic water.	City of Box Elder municipal
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.	Municipal sewer inside the limits, billed monthly alongside water. Rural parcels are on private septic.	City of Box Elder municipal
Short term rentalsdiffers	This is hunting and grassland country rather than a tourism corridor. Demand is seasonal and specific.	Newell is an agricultural town rather than a tourism town. Short-term rental demand here is hunting season, Rally week and ag events, not year-round visitors.	A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.
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.	Newell School District 09-2Assignment 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.
Daily errands
Groceriesdiffers	Nothing full service in town. Hot Springs, about 14 miles south, is where errands happen.	A grocery store and a hardware store in town, with Belle Fourche about 25 miles for anything larger.	Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.
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.	No hospital or clinic in Newell. Sturgis is about 26 miles, Spearfish about 37, and Monument Health has a clinic in Belle Fourche.	Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.
Recreationdiffers	Buffalo Gap National Grassland, hunting, rock collecting and OHV country, with the Cheyenne River nearby.	A nine-hole golf course, the Newell Museum, the Belle Fourche Reservoir north of town, and hunting in every direction.	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.
Mapped subdivisions
Outlines on filediffers	No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.	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.
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 federal reclamation townsite from 1910 at the center of a 57,000 acre irrigation project, with a sale barn and its own school.	A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.
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.	A complete small town with its own K through 12 school and irrigated ground around it, at prices the Hills corridor cannot touch.	The Ellsworth main gate is in town, 9 minutes from most addresses, on city water and sewer, with the region's newest housing pipeline.
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.	Seventy minutes to Rapid City, 26 miles to a hospital, and an irrigation district assessment that attaches to the land as a lien.	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.

Central and Southern HillsBuffalo Gap
Northern Hills and I-90Newell
Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBox Elder

Where it sits

Regiondiffers

Buffalo Gap: Central and Southern Hills
Newell: Northern Hills and I-90
Box Elder: Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor

Countydiffers

Buffalo Gap: Custer County
Newell: Butte County
Box Elder: Pennington 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.
Newell: Incorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder

Corridordiffers

Buffalo Gap: SD 79
Newell: US 212 and SD 79
Box Elder: I-90

To downtown Rapid Citydiffers

Buffalo Gap: About 45 miles, roughly 56 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Newell: About 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Box Elder: 19 min, 10.9 miDriving 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.
Newell: About 60 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.

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.
Newell: US 212 and SD 79 are state maintained, and the state rebuilt the Nisland to Newell stretch and the south junction in 2025. Off the highway it is open country and wind moves 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.

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.
Newell: 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.
Box Elder: $340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.

Housing agediffers

Buffalo Gap: An 1885 to 1939 historic core with an aging housing stock and about a fifth of units vacant.
Newell: A 1910 townsite, so genuinely old in-town stock with newer building scattered around it.
Box Elder: Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement

New constructiondiffers

Buffalo Gap: None underway
Newell: Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Box Elder: Active, with subdivisions still building

Acreagediffers

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

Typical lotdiffers

Buffalo Gap: A handful of historic townsite lots, with grassland and ranch ground around them.
Newell: Small townsite lots, then irrigated project acreage, then rangeland, in that order as you drive out.
Box Elder: Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats

Covenants and HOAdiffers

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

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

Utilities and rules

Utility patterndiffers

Buffalo Gap: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
Newell: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
Box Elder: City water and sewer inside the limits

Waterdiffers

Buffalo Gap: Town of Buffalo Gap municipal water from a single well, serving about 93 connections. Rural parcels are on private wells.
Newell: Town of Newell municipal water inside the limits, from groundwater, serving about 378 connections. Rural properties are on the Butte-Meade Sanitary Water District or on private wells. Irrigation water from the Belle Fourche Irrigation District is an entirely separate thing from domestic water.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder municipal

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.
Newell: Municipal sewer inside the limits, billed monthly alongside water. Rural parcels are on private septic.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder municipal

Short term rentalsdiffers

Buffalo Gap: This is hunting and grassland country rather than a tourism corridor. Demand is seasonal and specific.
Newell: Newell is an agricultural town rather than a tourism town. Short-term rental demand here is hunting season, Rally week and ag events, not year-round visitors.
Box Elder: A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.

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.
Newell: Newell School District 09-2Assignment 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.

Daily errands

Groceriesdiffers

Buffalo Gap: Nothing full service in town. Hot Springs, about 14 miles south, is where errands happen.
Newell: A grocery store and a hardware store in town, with Belle Fourche about 25 miles for anything larger.
Box Elder: Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.

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.
Newell: No hospital or clinic in Newell. Sturgis is about 26 miles, Spearfish about 37, and Monument Health has a clinic in Belle Fourche.
Box Elder: Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.

Recreationdiffers

Buffalo Gap: Buffalo Gap National Grassland, hunting, rock collecting and OHV country, with the Cheyenne River nearby.
Newell: A nine-hole golf course, the Newell Museum, the Belle Fourche Reservoir north of town, and hunting in every direction.
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.

Mapped subdivisions

Outlines on filediffers

Buffalo Gap: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
Newell: 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.

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.
Newell: A federal reclamation townsite from 1910 at the center of a 57,000 acre irrigation project, with a sale barn and its own school.
Box Elder: A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.

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.
Newell: A complete small town with its own K through 12 school and irrigated ground around it, at prices the Hills corridor cannot touch.
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.

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.
Newell: Seventy minutes to Rapid City, 26 miles to a hospital, and an irrigation district assessment that attaches to the land as a lien.
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.

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

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ComparingBuffalo Gap, Newell, Box Elder

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