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
6 of 25 communities
Under $400kClose to EllsworthClose to Rapid CityShort commuteNew construction availableAcreage availableCity water and sewerSmaller marketMore ruralEstablished housingNewer housingClear filtersClear 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
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
- Unincorporated, so closings report under Rapid City and Meade County rather than a Black Hawk median. Lot size and outbuildings move the price more than the street does.
- To Ellsworth AFB
- About 30 minutes, the same I-90 run as Summerset just northDriving time and distance, off peak.
- To downtown Rapid City
- About 12 to 15 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Utility pattern
- Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
- School district
- Rapid City Area Schools 51-4 for most addressesAssignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
- 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
- No published median exists for the community. Closed sales on the specific street are the only figure worth quoting here.
- To Ellsworth AFB
- About 15 minutes northDriving time and distance, off peak.
- To downtown Rapid City
- About 6 miles northwestDistance 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
- Split between Douglas 51-1 and Rapid City Area 51-4. Address specific.Assignment 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.
- 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.
- Typical price
- Builder inventory sets the level here, and the MLS publishes no Summerset median on its own.
- To Ellsworth AFB
- 30 min, 19.2 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
- To downtown Rapid City
- 15 min, 10.0 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Utility pattern
- Sewer collection is provided by the City of Summerset. Water service varies by address and can include Black Hawk Water User District or Diamond D Water in Sun Valley.
- School district
- Meade 46-1 and Rapid City Area Schools 51-4, split within the cityAssignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
What changes
Between Newell, St. Onge, Wall
The rows below are the ones where these do not read the same. Ordered as the table runs, not by importance.
- Region
- NewellNorthern Hills and I-90St. OngeNorthern Hills and I-90WallPrairie and Badlands
- County
- NewellButte CountySt. OngeLawrence CountyWallPennington County
- Jurisdiction
- NewellIncorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.St. OngeUnincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them.WallIncorporated town of Wall, with Pennington County outside the limits.
- Corridor
- NewellUS 212 and SD 79St. OngeSD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at WhitewoodWallI-90 exits 109 and 110
- To downtown Rapid City
- NewellAbout 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesSt. OngeAbout 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesWallAbout 50 miles west on I-90
- To Ellsworth AFB
- NewellAbout 60 milesSt. OngeAbout 45 milesWallAbout 43 miles west
Side by side
Newell, St. Onge, Wall
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.
| Attribute | Northern Hills and I-90Newell | Northern Hills and I-90St. Onge | Prairie and BadlandsWall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | |||
| Regiondiffers | Northern Hills and I-90 | Northern Hills and I-90 | Prairie and Badlands |
| Countydiffers | Butte County | Lawrence County | Pennington County |
| JurisdictiondiffersCity versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work. | Incorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits. | Unincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them. | Incorporated town of Wall, with Pennington County outside the limits. |
| Corridordiffers | US 212 and SD 79 | SD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood | I-90 exits 109 and 110 |
| To downtown Rapid Citydiffers | About 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak. | About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak. | About 50 miles west on I-90Distance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel. |
| To Ellsworth AFBdiffers | About 60 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. | About 43 miles westDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel. |
| Winter drivingdiffers | 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. | Highway 34 is state maintained and connects three directions. County and private roads off it are a different conversation. | I-90 is the lifeline and it is state maintained, but this is open prairie and I-90 does close in a ground blizzard. Plan for that a few times a winter. |
| Housing and lots | |||
| Typical pricediffers | 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. | 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. | 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. |
| Housing agediffers | A 1910 townsite, so genuinely old in-town stock with newer building scattered around it. | An 1891 townsite with genuinely old buildings, surrounded by ranch and acreage property of every era. | Older stock through town, with a municipal demolition incentive program in place for blighted property. |
| New construction | Limited, mostly infill and small projects | Limited, mostly infill and small projects | Limited, mostly infill and small projects |
| Acreage | Acreage parcels are common here | Acreage parcels are common here | Acreage parcels are common here |
| Typical lotdiffers | Small townsite lots, then irrigated project acreage, then rangeland, in that order as you drive out. | Small townsite lots, with acreage and ranch ground around them. | Platted town lots, and then it jumps straight to ranch scale. |
| Covenants and HOACovenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel. | Few plats here carry recorded covenants | 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 | Mostly private well and septic | City water and sewer inside the limits |
| Waterdiffers | 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. | 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. | Town of Wall municipal water inside the limits. Rural parcels are on private wells. |
| Sewerdiffers | Municipal sewer inside the limits, billed monthly alongside water. Rural parcels are on private septic. | 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. | Town sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels. |
| Short term rentalsdiffers | 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. | 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. | This is genuine seasonal tourism territory at a national park gate. Confirm any town requirement, and note that Wall Drug houses many of its own seasonal workers, which removes demand from the local rental market. |
| Schools | |||
| School districtdiffers | Newell School District 09-2Assignment 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. | Wall School District 51-5Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district. |
| Daily errands | |||
| Groceriesdiffers | A grocery store and a hardware store in town, with Belle Fourche about 25 miles for anything larger. | Nothing in town. Spearfish is eleven miles southeast and Belle Fourche thirteen northwest. | The Wall Food Center on South Boulevard West. |
| Healthcarediffers | 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 Spearfish Hospital, a 35 bed facility with a 24 hour emergency department, about 18 minutes away. | The Monument Health Wall Clinic on 7th Avenue is in town. The nearest hospital is Monument Health Rapid City, roughly 50 miles west. |
| Recreationdiffers | A nine-hole golf course, the Newell Museum, the Belle Fourche Reservoir north of town, and hunting in every direction. | Creek bottoms, hay ground and hunting country, with Spearfish Canyon and the northern Hills half an hour away. | Badlands National Park about seven miles south, Buffalo Gap National Grassland all around, the National Grasslands Visitor Center on Main Street and the Wall rodeo arena. |
| The trade | |||
| Housing and patterndiffers | A federal reclamation townsite from 1910 at the center of a 57,000 acre irrigation project, with a sale barn and its own school. | An 1891 French-Canadian railroad townsite that is now a cattle auction crossroads and an acreage corridor. | A complete small prairie town with its own school, clinic and grocery, at the northern gate to the Badlands. |
| What you gaindiffers | A complete small town with its own K through 12 school and irrigated ground around it, at prices the Hills corridor cannot touch. | The cheapest ground in the northern Hills that still puts you eleven miles from a hospital and sixteen from three towns. | Everything a town needs in one place, 50 miles from the city, at prairie prices. |
| What you give updiffers | Seventy minutes to Rapid City, 26 miles to a hospital, and an irrigation district assessment that attaches to the land as a lien. | A three-way school district split you have to verify per parcel, and no services of any kind in town. | Fifty miles to a hospital and to real shopping, and an economy that runs on a three month season. |
Where it sits
Regiondiffers
- Newell
- Northern Hills and I-90
- St. Onge
- Northern Hills and I-90
- Wall
- Prairie and Badlands
Countydiffers
- Newell
- Butte County
- St. Onge
- Lawrence County
- Wall
- Pennington County
Jurisdictiondiffers
City versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.- Newell
- Incorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.
- St. Onge
- Unincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them.
- Wall
- Incorporated town of Wall, with Pennington County outside the limits.
Corridordiffers
- Newell
- US 212 and SD 79
- St. Onge
- SD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood
- Wall
- I-90 exits 109 and 110
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers
- Newell
- About 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
- St. Onge
- About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Wall
- About 50 miles west on I-90Distance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To Ellsworth AFBdiffers
- Newell
- About 60 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.
- Wall
- About 43 miles westDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Winter drivingdiffers
- 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.
- St. Onge
- Highway 34 is state maintained and connects three directions. County and private roads off it are a different conversation.
- Wall
- I-90 is the lifeline and it is state maintained, but this is open prairie and I-90 does close in a ground blizzard. Plan for that a few times a winter.
Housing and lots
Typical pricediffers
- 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.
- 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.
- Wall
- 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.
Housing agediffers
- Newell
- A 1910 townsite, so genuinely old in-town stock with newer building scattered around it.
- St. Onge
- An 1891 townsite with genuinely old buildings, surrounded by ranch and acreage property of every era.
- Wall
- Older stock through town, with a municipal demolition incentive program in place for blighted property.
New construction
- Newell
- Limited, mostly infill and small projects
- St. Onge
- Limited, mostly infill and small projects
- Wall
- Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Acreage
- Newell
- Acreage parcels are common here
- St. Onge
- Acreage parcels are common here
- Wall
- Acreage parcels are common here
Typical lotdiffers
- Newell
- Small townsite lots, then irrigated project acreage, then rangeland, in that order as you drive out.
- St. Onge
- Small townsite lots, with acreage and ranch ground around them.
- Wall
- Platted town lots, and then it jumps straight to ranch scale.
Covenants and HOA
Covenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel.- Newell
- Few plats here carry recorded covenants
- St. Onge
- Few plats here carry recorded covenants
- Wall
- Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers
- Newell
- Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
- St. Onge
- Mostly private well and septic
- Wall
- City water and sewer inside the limits
Waterdiffers
- 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.
- 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.
- Wall
- Town of Wall municipal water inside the limits. Rural parcels are on private wells.
Sewerdiffers
- Newell
- Municipal sewer inside the limits, billed monthly alongside water. Rural parcels are on private septic.
- 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.
- Wall
- Town sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.
Short term rentalsdiffers
- 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.
- 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.
- Wall
- This is genuine seasonal tourism territory at a national park gate. Confirm any town requirement, and note that Wall Drug houses many of its own seasonal workers, which removes demand from the local rental market.
Schools
School districtdiffers
- Newell
- Newell School District 09-2Assignment 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.
- Wall
- Wall School District 51-5Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Daily errands
Groceriesdiffers
- Newell
- A grocery store and a hardware store in town, with Belle Fourche about 25 miles for anything larger.
- St. Onge
- Nothing in town. Spearfish is eleven miles southeast and Belle Fourche thirteen northwest.
- Wall
- The Wall Food Center on South Boulevard West.
Healthcarediffers
- Newell
- No hospital or clinic in Newell. Sturgis is about 26 miles, Spearfish about 37, and Monument Health has a clinic in Belle Fourche.
- St. Onge
- Monument Health Spearfish Hospital, a 35 bed facility with a 24 hour emergency department, about 18 minutes away.
- Wall
- The Monument Health Wall Clinic on 7th Avenue is in town. The nearest hospital is Monument Health Rapid City, roughly 50 miles west.
Recreationdiffers
- Newell
- A nine-hole golf course, the Newell Museum, the Belle Fourche Reservoir north of town, and hunting in every direction.
- St. Onge
- Creek bottoms, hay ground and hunting country, with Spearfish Canyon and the northern Hills half an hour away.
- Wall
- Badlands National Park about seven miles south, Buffalo Gap National Grassland all around, the National Grasslands Visitor Center on Main Street and the Wall rodeo arena.
The trade
Housing and patterndiffers
- 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.
- St. Onge
- An 1891 French-Canadian railroad townsite that is now a cattle auction crossroads and an acreage corridor.
- Wall
- A complete small prairie town with its own school, clinic and grocery, at the northern gate to the Badlands.
What you gaindiffers
- Newell
- A complete small town with its own K through 12 school and irrigated ground around it, at prices the Hills corridor cannot touch.
- St. Onge
- The cheapest ground in the northern Hills that still puts you eleven miles from a hospital and sixteen from three towns.
- Wall
- Everything a town needs in one place, 50 miles from the city, at prairie prices.
What you give updiffers
- Newell
- Seventy minutes to Rapid City, 26 miles to a hospital, and an irrigation district assessment that attaches to the land as a lien.
- St. Onge
- A three-way school district split you have to verify per parcel, and no services of any kind in town.
- Wall
- Fifty miles to a hospital and to real shopping, and an economy that runs on a three month season.
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
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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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.