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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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, 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.

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

What changes

Between Edgemont, Blucksberg Mountain, Box Elder, Custer

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

Region: EdgemontCentral and Southern HillsBlucksberg MountainRapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBox ElderRapid City and the Ellsworth corridorCusterCentral and Southern Hills
County: EdgemontFall River CountyBlucksberg MountainMeade CountyBox ElderPennington CountyCusterCuster County
Jurisdiction: EdgemontIncorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.Blucksberg MountainUnincorporated Meade CountyBox ElderCity of Box ElderCusterNot recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.
Corridor: EdgemontUS 18 and SD 471Blucksberg MountainI-90Box ElderI-90CusterUS-16
To downtown Rapid City: EdgemontAbout 100 miles northeastBlucksberg MountainNot measured for this page.Box Elder19 min, 10.9 miCusterAbout 50 to 60 minutes
To Ellsworth AFB: EdgemontAbout 110 milesBlucksberg MountainNot measured for this page.Box Elder9 min, 2.3 miCusterAbout an hour and ten minutes

Side by side

Edgemont, Blucksberg Mountain, Box Elder, Custer

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 HillsEdgemont	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBlucksberg Mountain	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBox Elder	Central and Southern HillsCuster
Where it sits
Regiondiffers	Central and Southern Hills	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor	Central and Southern Hills
Countydiffers	Fall River County	Meade County	Pennington County	Custer County
JurisdictiondiffersCity versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.	Incorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.	Unincorporated Meade County	City of Box Elder	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.
Corridordiffers	US 18 and SD 471	I-90	I-90	US-16
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers	About 100 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.	Not measured for this page.Drive time is not measured for this community. Time it from the parcel itself.	19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 50 to 60 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
To Ellsworth AFBdiffers	About 110 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.	Not measured for this page.Drive time is not measured for this community. Time it from the parcel itself.	9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	About an hour and ten minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Winter drivingdiffers	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.	This is hill ground off the interstate. Ask who plows the interior road serving the parcel, because some are not county maintained.	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.	Winter roads are a genuine planning factor at this distance, and on acreage you need to know who maintains yours.
Housing and lots
Typical pricediffers	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 verified closed sale set is available for Blucksberg Mountain, so no price level is printed here. The five recorded plats differ enough that one figure would not describe any of them.	$340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.	Median sold $627,000Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 7 closed sales, small sample.
Housing agediffers	An 1890 railroad town, so mostly older stock, with about a quarter of units vacant at the 2020 count.	Mixed ages. Older homes near the core, newer construction toward the edges.	Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement	Mixed ages. Older homes near the core, newer construction toward the edges.
New constructiondiffers	None underway	Not recorded townwide in this guide. Check current permits with the city or county.	Active, with subdivisions still building	Not recorded townwide in this guide. Check current permits with the city or county.
Acreagediffers	Acreage parcels are common here	Acreage parcels are common here	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.	Acreage is common outside the city core, with wells and septic systems typical on many rural properties.
Typical lotdiffers	Town lots inside the limits, ranch scale outside them.	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot dimensions.	Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot dimensions.
Covenants and HOAdiffersCovenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel.	Few plats here carry recorded covenants	Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others	Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.	Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers	City water and sewer inside the limits	Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it	City water and sewer inside the limits	Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
Waterdiffers	City of Edgemont municipal water. Rural parcels are on private wells.	Varies by plat. Blucksberg Mountain #1 is a regulated community water system. Confirm provider and rate by parcel.	City of Box Elder municipal	Municipal water inside the limits, a private well or a district system outside them.Read off the townwide utility pattern in the guide. The service address controls, so confirm the provider before you write an offer.
Sewerdiffers	City sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.	Septic common in current listings. Confirm the system by address.	City of Box Elder municipal	City sewer inside the limits, private septic outside them.Read off the townwide utility pattern in the guide. The service address controls, so confirm the provider before you write an offer.
Short term rentalsdiffers	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.	Short term rental rules here come from Meade County and from the covenants on the recorded plat, not from a city ordinance.	A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.	Grandfathered permits are non transferable and expire when the property sells, and the rules flip at the city line.
Schools
School districtdiffers	Edgemont School District 23-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.	Meade School District 46-1Assignment 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.	Custer School District 16-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Daily errands
Groceriesdiffers	Small-town grocery and convenience in Edgemont, with Hot Springs about 35 miles east for more.	Not recorded in this guide. Check what is open near the address.	Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.	Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.
Healthcarediffers	No hospital in town. Fall River Health Services in Hot Springs is a 25 bed critical access hospital with a 24 hour emergency department.	Not recorded in this guide. Confirm the nearest clinic and hospital by address.	Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.	Monument Health Custer Hospital and clinic are in town.
Recreationdiffers	The hundred-year-old city park, the campground, the Elk Mountains and open country in every direction.	Not recorded in this guide. Read the guide for what residents use here.	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.	Custer State Park at the door, including Sylvan Lake, the Needles Highway, the wildlife loop and the September buffalo roundup.
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.	No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
The trade
Housing and patterndiffers	A working BNSF crew-change town founded in 1890, at the far southern edge of the Hills below the Elk Mountains.	Five separate recorded plats of residential acreage on the hill between Rapid City and Sturgis, unincorporated.	A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.	A county seat at a park entrance, with a replacement Monument Health hospital and acreage starting just past the city limits.
What you gaindiffers	More town per dollar than anywhere else in the region, with its own school district and city utilities.	Read the guide	The Ellsworth main gate is in town, 9 minutes from most addresses, on city water and sewer, with the region's newest housing pipeline.	You are inside the Hills with real acreage, Custer State Park at the door, and a new hospital in a town of about 1,900.
What you give updiffers	A hundred miles from Rapid City, 35 from a hospital, with two unresolved questions hanging over the local economy.	Utilities, roads and covenants change from one recorded plat to the next, so nothing you learn about one street transfers to the next one over.	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.	Rapid City is 50 to 60 minutes and Ellsworth over an hour, grandfathered rental permits expire when a property sells, and outside the city limits there are no county building codes.

Central and Southern HillsEdgemont
Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBlucksberg Mountain
Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBox Elder
Central and Southern HillsCuster

Where it sits

Regiondiffers

Edgemont: Central and Southern Hills
Blucksberg Mountain: Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Box Elder: Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Custer: Central and Southern Hills

Countydiffers

Edgemont: Fall River County
Blucksberg Mountain: Meade County
Box Elder: Pennington County
Custer: Custer County

Jurisdictiondiffers

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

Edgemont: Incorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.
Blucksberg Mountain: Unincorporated Meade County
Box Elder: City of Box Elder
Custer: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.

Corridordiffers

Edgemont: US 18 and SD 471
Blucksberg Mountain: I-90
Box Elder: I-90
Custer: US-16

To downtown Rapid Citydiffers

Edgemont: About 100 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Blucksberg Mountain: Not measured for this page.Drive time is not measured for this community. Time it from the parcel itself.
Box Elder: 19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Custer: About 50 to 60 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.

To Ellsworth AFBdiffers

Edgemont: About 110 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Blucksberg Mountain: Not measured for this page.Drive time is not measured for this community. Time it from the parcel itself.
Box Elder: 9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Custer: About an hour and ten minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.

Winter drivingdiffers

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.
Blucksberg Mountain: This is hill ground off the interstate. Ask who plows the interior road serving the parcel, because some are not county maintained.
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.
Custer: Winter roads are a genuine planning factor at this distance, and on acreage you need to know who maintains yours.

Housing and lots

Typical pricediffers

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.
Blucksberg Mountain: No verified closed sale set is available for Blucksberg Mountain, so no price level is printed here. The five recorded plats differ enough that one figure would not describe any of them.
Box Elder: $340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.
Custer: Median sold $627,000Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 7 closed sales, small sample.

Housing agediffers

Edgemont: An 1890 railroad town, so mostly older stock, with about a quarter of units vacant at the 2020 count.
Blucksberg Mountain: Mixed ages. Older homes near the core, newer construction toward the edges.
Box Elder: Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement
Custer: Mixed ages. Older homes near the core, newer construction toward the edges.

New constructiondiffers

Edgemont: None underway
Blucksberg Mountain: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Check current permits with the city or county.
Box Elder: Active, with subdivisions still building
Custer: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Check current permits with the city or county.

Acreagediffers

Edgemont: Acreage parcels are common here
Blucksberg Mountain: Acreage parcels are common here
Box Elder: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.
Custer: Acreage is common outside the city core, with wells and septic systems typical on many rural properties.

Typical lotdiffers

Edgemont: Town lots inside the limits, ranch scale outside them.
Blucksberg Mountain: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot dimensions.
Box Elder: Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats
Custer: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot dimensions.

Covenants and HOAdiffers

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

Edgemont: Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Blucksberg Mountain: Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others
Box Elder: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.
Custer: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.

Utilities and rules

Utility patterndiffers

Edgemont: City water and sewer inside the limits
Blucksberg Mountain: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
Box Elder: City water and sewer inside the limits
Custer: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it

Waterdiffers

Edgemont: City of Edgemont municipal water. Rural parcels are on private wells.
Blucksberg Mountain: Varies by plat. Blucksberg Mountain #1 is a regulated community water system. Confirm provider and rate by parcel.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder municipal
Custer: Municipal water inside the limits, a private well or a district system outside them.Read off the townwide utility pattern in the guide. The service address controls, so confirm the provider before you write an offer.

Sewerdiffers

Edgemont: City sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.
Blucksberg Mountain: Septic common in current listings. Confirm the system by address.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder municipal
Custer: City sewer inside the limits, private septic outside them.Read off the townwide utility pattern in the guide. The service address controls, so confirm the provider before you write an offer.

Short term rentalsdiffers

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.
Blucksberg Mountain: Short term rental rules here come from Meade County and from the covenants on the recorded plat, not from a city ordinance.
Box Elder: A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.
Custer: Grandfathered permits are non transferable and expire when the property sells, and the rules flip at the city line.

Schools

School districtdiffers

Edgemont: Edgemont School District 23-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Blucksberg Mountain: Meade School District 46-1Assignment 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.
Custer: Custer School District 16-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.

Daily errands

Groceriesdiffers

Edgemont: Small-town grocery and convenience in Edgemont, with Hot Springs about 35 miles east for more.
Blucksberg Mountain: Not recorded in this guide. Check what is open near the address.
Box Elder: Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.
Custer: Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.

Healthcarediffers

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.
Blucksberg Mountain: Not recorded in this guide. Confirm the nearest clinic and hospital by address.
Box Elder: Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.
Custer: Monument Health Custer Hospital and clinic are in town.

Recreationdiffers

Edgemont: The hundred-year-old city park, the campground, the Elk Mountains and open country in every direction.
Blucksberg Mountain: Not recorded in this guide. Read the guide for what residents use here.
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.
Custer: Custer State Park at the door, including Sylvan Lake, the Needles Highway, the wildlife loop and the September buffalo roundup.

Mapped subdivisions

Outlines on filediffers

Edgemont: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
Blucksberg Mountain: 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.
Custer: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.

The trade

Housing and patterndiffers

Edgemont: A working BNSF crew-change town founded in 1890, at the far southern edge of the Hills below the Elk Mountains.
Blucksberg Mountain: Five separate recorded plats of residential acreage on the hill between Rapid City and Sturgis, unincorporated.
Box Elder: A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.
Custer: A county seat at a park entrance, with a replacement Monument Health hospital and acreage starting just past the city limits.

What you gaindiffers

Edgemont: More town per dollar than anywhere else in the region, with its own school district and city utilities.
Blucksberg Mountain: Read the guide
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.
Custer: You are inside the Hills with real acreage, Custer State Park at the door, and a new hospital in a town of about 1,900.

What you give updiffers

Edgemont: A hundred miles from Rapid City, 35 from a hospital, with two unresolved questions hanging over the local economy.
Blucksberg Mountain: Utilities, roads and covenants change from one recorded plat to the next, so nothing you learn about one street transfers to the next one over.
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.
Custer: Rapid City is 50 to 60 minutes and Ellsworth over an hour, grandfathered rental permits expire when a property sells, and outside the city limits there are no county building codes.

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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ComparingEdgemont, Blucksberg Mountain, Box Elder, Custer

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