Henry Roy Real Estate, Ascend Realty, Rapid City South Dakota
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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3 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.

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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
    $340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.
    To Ellsworth AFB
    9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
    To downtown Rapid City
    19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
    Utility pattern
    City water and sewer inside the limits
    School district
    Douglas School District 51-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
  • 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
  • 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.
    4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide
What changes

Between Buffalo Gap, Spearfish, Edgemont, 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 HillsSpearfishNorthern Hills and I-90EdgemontCentral and Southern HillsBox ElderRapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
County
Buffalo GapCuster CountySpearfishLawrence CountyEdgemontFall River CountyBox ElderPennington County
Jurisdiction
Buffalo GapIncorporated town of Buffalo Gap, with Custer County outside the limits.SpearfishNot recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.EdgemontIncorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.Box ElderCity of Box Elder
Corridor
Buffalo GapSD 79SpearfishI-90EdgemontUS 18 and SD 471Box ElderI-90
To downtown Rapid City
Buffalo GapAbout 45 miles, roughly 56 minutesSpearfish53 min, 47.8 miEdgemontAbout 100 miles northeastBox Elder19 min, 10.9 mi
To Ellsworth AFB
Buffalo GapAbout 55 milesSpearfish68 min, 57.0 miEdgemontAbout 110 milesBox Elder9 min, 2.3 mi
Side by side

Buffalo Gap, Spearfish, Edgemont, 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.

Where it sits

Regiondiffers

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

Countydiffers

Buffalo Gap
Custer County
Spearfish
Lawrence County
Edgemont
Fall River 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.
Spearfish
Not recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.
Edgemont
Incorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.
Box Elder
City of Box Elder

Corridordiffers

Buffalo Gap
SD 79
Spearfish
I-90
Edgemont
US 18 and SD 471
Box Elder
I-90

To downtown Rapid Citydiffers

Buffalo Gap
About 45 miles, roughly 56 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Spearfish
53 min, 47.8 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.
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.
Spearfish
68 min, 57.0 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.
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.
Spearfish
Chinook winds off the hills are a genuine feature of winter in this corridor.
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.
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.
Spearfish
$400k to $600kMedian sold $475,000. Mount Rushmore Area MLS, all residential, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 199 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.
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.
Spearfish
Older stock in the middle, edge subdivisions built 1996 to 2023
Edgemont
An 1890 railroad town, so mostly older stock, with about a quarter of units vacant at the 2020 count.
Box Elder
Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement

New constructiondiffers

Buffalo Gap
None underway
Spearfish
New construction remains active on the edges of town, including areas such as Sky Ridge and other newer developments.
Edgemont
None underway
Box Elder
Active, with subdivisions still building

Acreagediffers

Buffalo Gap
Acreage parcels are common here
Spearfish
Acreage is available around Spearfish, primarily on surrounding Lawrence County ground rather than in the city core.
Edgemont
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.
Spearfish
Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot dimensions.
Edgemont
Town lots inside the limits, ranch scale outside them.
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
Spearfish
Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others
Edgemont
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
Spearfish
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.
Edgemont
City water and sewer inside the limits
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.
Spearfish
City water inside the Spearfish limits. Acreage outside the limits runs on a private well or a rural water district.Read off the townwide utility pattern in the guide. The service address controls, so confirm the provider before you write an offer.
Edgemont
City of Edgemont municipal water. Rural parcels are on private wells.
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.
Spearfish
City sewer inside the Spearfish limits, private septic on acreage outside them.Read off the townwide utility pattern in the guide. The service address controls, so confirm the provider before you write an offer.
Edgemont
City sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.
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.
Spearfish
The city studied rules in 2023 and 2024 and maintains an official short term rental page. Verify the current ordinance first.
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.
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.
Spearfish
Spearfish School District 40-2Assignment 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.
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.
Spearfish
Full-service grocery options in town include Walmart, Safeway and Lueders Food Centers.
Edgemont
Small-town grocery and convenience in Edgemont, with Hot Springs about 35 miles east for more.
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.
Spearfish
Monument Health Spearfish Hospital and outpatient clinics are in town.
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.
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.
Spearfish
D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery, Black Hills State University events, and Terry Peak and Deadwood a short drive south.
Edgemont
The hundred-year-old city park, the campground, the Elk Mountains and open country 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.
Spearfish
25 mapped outlines, 13 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.
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.
Spearfish
A university town with a walkable middle, growing fast enough that new construction has moved to the edges.
Edgemont
A working BNSF crew-change town founded in 1890, at the far southern edge of the Hills below the Elk Mountains.
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.
Spearfish
A downtown you can walk across, Black Hills State and Spearfish Canyon out the back door, on city water and sewer.
Edgemont
More town per dollar than anywhere else in the region, with its own school district and city utilities.
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.
Spearfish
The highest median sold price of the region's higher volume markets at $475,000 across 199 sales, and Rapid City is 53 minutes on the interstate with the Ellsworth gate 68.
Edgemont
A hundred miles from Rapid City, 35 from a hospital, with two unresolved questions hanging over the local economy.
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

Contact

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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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ComparingBuffalo Gap, Spearfish, Edgemont, Box Elder

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