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

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What changes

Between Edgemont, Box Elder, Piedmont

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 HillsBox ElderRapid City and the Ellsworth corridorPiedmontRapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
County: EdgemontFall River CountyBox ElderPennington CountyPiedmontMeade County
Jurisdiction: EdgemontIncorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.Box ElderCity of Box ElderPiedmontCity of Piedmont
Corridor: EdgemontUS 18 and SD 471Box ElderI-90PiedmontI-90
To downtown Rapid City: EdgemontAbout 100 miles northeastBox Elder19 min, 10.9 miPiedmontAbout 26 minutes from the Prairie Haven side, longer from the upper plats
To Ellsworth AFB: EdgemontAbout 110 milesBox Elder9 min, 2.3 miPiedmont36 min from the Prairie Haven side, closer to 51 from the plats highest up the foothills

Side by side

Edgemont, Box Elder, Piedmont

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 corridorBox Elder	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorPiedmont
Where it sits
Regiondiffers	Central and Southern Hills	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Countydiffers	Fall River County	Pennington County	Meade County
JurisdictiondiffersCity versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.	Incorporated city of Edgemont, with Fall River County outside the limits.	City of Box Elder	City of Piedmont
Corridordiffers	US 18 and SD 471	I-90	I-90
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers	About 100 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.	19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 26 minutes from the Prairie Haven side, longer from the upper platsDriving 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.	9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	36 min from the Prairie Haven side, closer to 51 from the plats highest up the foothillsDriving 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.	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.	Driveway grade is the first thing to look at out here, then water, then where spring melt goes.
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.	$340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.	$375k to $575kMedian sold $425,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 127 closed sales.
Housing agediffers	An 1890 railroad town, so mostly older stock, with about a quarter of units vacant at the 2020 count.	Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement	Older ranch homes and newer custom builds, sometimes on the same road
New constructiondiffers	None underway	Active, with subdivisions still building	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 is a major part of the Piedmont-area market, particularly on surrounding unincorporated Meade County ground.
Typical lotdiffers	Town lots inside the limits, ranch scale outside them.	Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats	Foothills lots that buy elevation, pine and space
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.	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	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.	City of Box Elder municipal	City of Piedmont municipal, supplemented by bulk water from Black Hawk Water User District
Sewerdiffers	City sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.	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.	A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.	A research before you count on it town. The city publishes very little and the county next door publishes less.
Schools
School districtdiffers	Edgemont School District 23-1Assignment 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.	Meade School District 46-1Assignment 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.	Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.	Not recorded in this guide. Check what is open near the address.
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.	Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.	Monument Health Rapid City Hospital
Recreationdiffers	The hundred-year-old city park, the campground, the Elk Mountains and open country 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.	Foothills trailheads sit within minutes of town, and the Petrified Forest of the Black Hills is seasonal.
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.	21 mapped outlines, 17 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.
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.	A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.	Where the prairie folds up into the foothills, with a lot of my current listing inventory on these roads.
What you gaindiffers	More town per dollar than anywhere else in the region, with its own school district and city utilities.	The Ellsworth main gate is in town, 9 minutes from most addresses, on city water and sewer, with the region's newest housing pipeline.	Foothills lots with elevation and pine, in Meade 46-1, with I-90 at the door and downtown Rapid City about 26 minutes south from the Prairie Haven side.
What you give updiffers	A hundred miles from Rapid City, 35 from a hospital, with two unresolved questions hanging over the local economy.	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.	The city publishes very little, so rental plans, utilities and legal access get answered address by address, and a steep driveway is a winter decision.

Central and Southern HillsEdgemont
Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBox Elder
Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorPiedmont

Where it sits

Regiondiffers

Edgemont: Central and Southern Hills
Box Elder: Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Piedmont: Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor

Countydiffers

Edgemont: Fall River County
Box Elder: Pennington County
Piedmont: Meade 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.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder
Piedmont: City of Piedmont

Corridordiffers

Edgemont: US 18 and SD 471
Box Elder: I-90
Piedmont: I-90

To downtown Rapid Citydiffers

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.
Piedmont: About 26 minutes from the Prairie Haven side, longer from the upper platsDriving 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.
Box Elder: 9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Piedmont: 36 min from the Prairie Haven side, closer to 51 from the plats highest up the foothillsDriving 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.
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.
Piedmont: Driveway grade is the first thing to look at out here, then water, then where spring melt goes.

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.
Box Elder: $340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.
Piedmont: $375k to $575kMedian sold $425,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 127 closed sales.

Housing agediffers

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
Piedmont: Older ranch homes and newer custom builds, sometimes on the same road

New constructiondiffers

Edgemont: None underway
Box Elder: Active, with subdivisions still building
Piedmont: Limited, mostly infill and small projects

Acreagediffers

Edgemont: Acreage parcels are common here
Box Elder: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.
Piedmont: Acreage is a major part of the Piedmont-area market, particularly on surrounding unincorporated Meade County ground.

Typical lotdiffers

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
Piedmont: Foothills lots that buy elevation, pine and space

Covenants and HOAdiffers

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

Edgemont: Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Box Elder: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.
Piedmont: 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
Box Elder: City water and sewer inside the limits
Piedmont: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it

Waterdiffers

Edgemont: City of Edgemont municipal water. Rural parcels are on private wells.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder municipal
Piedmont: City of Piedmont municipal, supplemented by bulk water from Black Hawk Water User District

Sewerdiffers

Edgemont: City sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder municipal
Piedmont: 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.
Box Elder: A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.
Piedmont: A research before you count on it town. The city publishes very little and the county next door publishes less.

Schools

School districtdiffers

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.
Piedmont: Meade School District 46-1Assignment 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.
Box Elder: Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.
Piedmont: Not recorded in this guide. Check what is open near the address.

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.
Box Elder: Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.
Piedmont: Monument Health Rapid City Hospital

Recreationdiffers

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.
Piedmont: Foothills trailheads sit within minutes of town, and the Petrified Forest of the Black Hills is seasonal.

Mapped subdivisions

Outlines on filediffers

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.
Piedmont: 21 mapped outlines, 17 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.

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.
Box Elder: A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.
Piedmont: Where the prairie folds up into the foothills, with a lot of my current listing inventory on these roads.

What you gaindiffers

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.
Piedmont: Foothills lots with elevation and pine, in Meade 46-1, with I-90 at the door and downtown Rapid City about 26 minutes south from the Prairie Haven side.

What you give updiffers

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.
Piedmont: The city publishes very little, so rental plans, utilities and legal access get answered address by address, and a steep driveway is a winter decision.

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, Box Elder, Piedmont

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