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, 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 St. Onge, Black Hawk, Wall, Keystone

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

Region: St. OngeNorthern Hills and I-90Black HawkRapid City and the Ellsworth corridorWallPrairie and BadlandsKeystoneCentral and Southern Hills
County: St. OngeLawrence CountyBlack HawkMeade CountyWallPennington CountyKeystonePennington County
Jurisdiction: St. OngeUnincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them.Black HawkUnincorporated Meade CountyWallIncorporated town of Wall, with Pennington County outside the limits.KeystoneIncorporated town of Keystone, with unincorporated Pennington County on the surrounding hillsides.
Corridor: St. OngeSD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at WhitewoodBlack HawkI-90WallI-90 exits 109 and 110KeystoneUS 16A
To downtown Rapid City: St. OngeAbout 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesBlack HawkAbout 12 to 15 minutesWallAbout 50 miles west on I-90KeystoneAbout 25 minutes northeast
To Ellsworth AFB: St. OngeAbout 45 milesBlack HawkAbout 30 minutes, the same I-90 run as Summerset just northWallAbout 43 miles westKeystoneAbout 40 minutes

Side by side

St. Onge, Black Hawk, Wall, Keystone

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	Northern Hills and I-90St. Onge	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBlack Hawk	Prairie and BadlandsWall	Central and Southern HillsKeystone
Where it sits
Regiondiffers	Northern Hills and I-90	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor	Prairie and Badlands	Central and Southern Hills
Countydiffers	Lawrence County	Meade County	Pennington County	Pennington County
JurisdictiondiffersCity versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.	Unincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them.	Unincorporated Meade County	Incorporated town of Wall, with Pennington County outside the limits.	Incorporated town of Keystone, with unincorporated Pennington County on the surrounding hillsides.
Corridordiffers	SD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood	I-90	I-90 exits 109 and 110	US 16A
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers	About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 12 to 15 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.	About 25 minutes northeastDriving time and distance, off peak.
To Ellsworth AFBdiffers	About 45 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.	About 30 minutes, the same I-90 run as Summerset just northDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 43 miles westDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.	About 40 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Winter drivingdiffers	Highway 34 is state maintained and connects three directions. County and private roads off it are a different conversation.	The road out front may be maintained publicly or by the neighborhood, so ask who plows before you buy.	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.	Black Hills elevation on canyon roads, and a town that empties out for the season. Iron Mountain Road and the scenic routes are not winter commuting roads.
Housing and lots
Typical pricediffers	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.	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.	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.	About $618,000 average sold, but only 9 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $618,449. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 9 closed sales, small sample.
Housing agediffers	An 1891 townsite with genuinely old buildings, surrounded by ranch and acreage property of every era.	Mixed street to street, sometimes neighbor to neighbor	Older stock through town, with a municipal demolition incentive program in place for blighted property.	An 1883 mining town, so genuinely old stock alongside newer builds and cabins.
New construction	Limited, mostly infill and small projects	Limited, mostly infill and small projects	Limited, mostly infill and small projects	Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Acreagediffers	Acreage parcels are common here	Larger lots and acre properties are part of the Black Hawk market, including properties with room for shops and outbuildings.	Acreage parcels are common here	Some acreage, mostly platted town lots
Typical lotdiffers	Small townsite lots, with acreage and ranch ground around them.	Bigger lots, with shop space and outbuildings normal	Platted town lots, and then it jumps straight to ranch scale.	Small and steep in town, larger on the surrounding hillsides outside the limits.
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 othersRecorded covenants vary by subdivision and should be checked for the specific property.	Few plats here carry recorded covenants	Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers	Mostly private well and septic	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	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.	Black Hawk Water User District	Town of Wall municipal water inside the limits. Rural parcels are on private wells.	Town of Keystone municipal water inside the limits, drawn from town wells, with no violations on its current record. Parcels outside the town limits are on private wells.
Sewerdiffers	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.	Black Hawk Sanitary District serves roughly 200 homes and businesses; properties outside the district are on private septic	Town sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.	Confirm with the town before you rely on it. The town operates public works, but I have not been able to verify from the public record whether it runs a collection system or which parcels it reaches. Outside the limits, expect private septic.
Short term rentalsdiffers	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.	No municipal short term rental ordinance, because there is no municipality. State licensing still applies, and the subdivision covenant usually decides.	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.	A 2 percent municipal lodging tax applies to transient stays. Whether a separate short term rental ordinance exists is not clear from the public record, so confirm with the town in writing.
Schools
School districtdiffers	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.	Rapid City Area Schools 51-4 for most addressesAssignment 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.	Hill City School District 51-2Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Daily errands
Groceriesdiffers	Nothing in town. Spearfish is eleven miles southeast and Belle Fourche thirteen northwest.	No full-service grocery store is in Black Hawk. Most larger grocery trips go into Rapid City.	The Wall Food Center on South Boulevard West.	Nothing full service in town. Hill City is the closest small grocery and Rapid City is the real shopping, about 25 minutes northeast.
Healthcarediffers	Monument Health Spearfish Hospital, a 35 bed facility with a 24 hour emergency department, about 18 minutes away.	Monument Health Rapid City Hospital	The Monument Health Wall Clinic on 7th Avenue is in town. The nearest hospital is Monument Health Rapid City, roughly 50 miles west.	No clinic in town. Monument Health Custer Hospital has a 24 hour emergency department, and Rapid City has the larger hospital.
Recreationdiffers	Creek bottoms, hay ground and hunting country, with Spearfish Canyon and the northern Hills half an hour away.	Piedmont and the Stagebarn area are just north, with the central hills close enough for a half day.	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.	Mount Rushmore is past the town boundary, the 1880 Train runs from the Winter Street depot, and Custer State Park and the Norbeck Scenic Byway are close.
Mapped subdivisions
Outlines on filediffers	No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.	12 mapped outlines, 5 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.	No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
The trade
Housing and patterndiffers	An 1891 French-Canadian railroad townsite that is now a cattle auction crossroads and an acreage corridor.	Unincorporated foothills pockets where lot size, home age and outbuildings change from one parcel to the next.	A complete small prairie town with its own school, clinic and grocery, at the northern gate to the Badlands.	An 1883 mining camp turned tourism town at the gateway to Mount Rushmore, 240 residents and millions of visitors.
What you gaindiffers	The cheapest ground in the northern Hills that still puts you eleven miles from a hospital and sixteen from three towns.	Bigger lots, room for a shop, and about 12 to 15 minutes to downtown Rapid City, without a city hall setting the local rules.	Everything a town needs in one place, 50 miles from the city, at prairie prices.	Nightly rental demand runs about as high as anywhere in the Black Hills, if the rules and the covenants check out for the specific property.
What you give updiffers	A three-way school district split you have to verify per parcel, and no services of any kind in town.	There is no city hall, so the subdivision covenant decides what you can build or rent, and water, sewer and road maintenance all change parcel to parcel.	Fifty miles to a hospital and to real shopping, and an economy that runs on a three month season.	A seasonal town with no school, no grocery and no clinic, and a housing stock where half the doors are dark in winter.

Northern Hills and I-90St. Onge
Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBlack Hawk
Prairie and BadlandsWall
Central and Southern HillsKeystone

Where it sits

Regiondiffers

St. Onge: Northern Hills and I-90
Black Hawk: Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Wall: Prairie and Badlands
Keystone: Central and Southern Hills

Countydiffers

St. Onge: Lawrence County
Black Hawk: Meade County
Wall: Pennington County
Keystone: Pennington County

Jurisdictiondiffers

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

St. Onge: Unincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them.
Black Hawk: Unincorporated Meade County
Wall: Incorporated town of Wall, with Pennington County outside the limits.
Keystone: Incorporated town of Keystone, with unincorporated Pennington County on the surrounding hillsides.

Corridordiffers

St. Onge: SD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood
Black Hawk: I-90
Wall: I-90 exits 109 and 110
Keystone: US 16A

To downtown Rapid Citydiffers

St. Onge: About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Black Hawk: About 12 to 15 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.
Keystone: About 25 minutes northeastDriving time and distance, off peak.

To Ellsworth AFBdiffers

St. Onge: About 45 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Black Hawk: About 30 minutes, the same I-90 run as Summerset just northDriving time and distance, off peak.
Wall: About 43 miles westDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Keystone: About 40 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.

Winter drivingdiffers

St. Onge: Highway 34 is state maintained and connects three directions. County and private roads off it are a different conversation.
Black Hawk: The road out front may be maintained publicly or by the neighborhood, so ask who plows before you buy.
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.
Keystone: Black Hills elevation on canyon roads, and a town that empties out for the season. Iron Mountain Road and the scenic routes are not winter commuting roads.

Housing and lots

Typical pricediffers

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.
Black Hawk: 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.
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.
Keystone: About $618,000 average sold, but only 9 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $618,449. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 9 closed sales, small sample.

Housing agediffers

St. Onge: An 1891 townsite with genuinely old buildings, surrounded by ranch and acreage property of every era.
Black Hawk: Mixed street to street, sometimes neighbor to neighbor
Wall: Older stock through town, with a municipal demolition incentive program in place for blighted property.
Keystone: An 1883 mining town, so genuinely old stock alongside newer builds and cabins.

New construction

St. Onge: Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Black Hawk: Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Wall: Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Keystone: Limited, mostly infill and small projects

Acreagediffers

St. Onge: Acreage parcels are common here
Black Hawk: Larger lots and acre properties are part of the Black Hawk market, including properties with room for shops and outbuildings.
Wall: Acreage parcels are common here
Keystone: Some acreage, mostly platted town lots

Typical lotdiffers

St. Onge: Small townsite lots, with acreage and ranch ground around them.
Black Hawk: Bigger lots, with shop space and outbuildings normal
Wall: Platted town lots, and then it jumps straight to ranch scale.
Keystone: Small and steep in town, larger on the surrounding hillsides outside the limits.

Covenants and HOAdiffers

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

St. Onge: Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Black Hawk: Recorded covenants on some plats, none on othersRecorded covenants vary by subdivision and should be checked for the specific property.
Wall: Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Keystone: Few plats here carry recorded covenants

Utilities and rules

Utility patterndiffers

St. Onge: Mostly private well and septic
Black Hawk: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
Wall: City water and sewer inside the limits
Keystone: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it

Waterdiffers

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.
Black Hawk: Black Hawk Water User District
Wall: Town of Wall municipal water inside the limits. Rural parcels are on private wells.
Keystone: Town of Keystone municipal water inside the limits, drawn from town wells, with no violations on its current record. Parcels outside the town limits are on private wells.

Sewerdiffers

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.
Black Hawk: Black Hawk Sanitary District serves roughly 200 homes and businesses; properties outside the district are on private septic
Wall: Town sewer inside the limits, with private septic on rural parcels.
Keystone: Confirm with the town before you rely on it. The town operates public works, but I have not been able to verify from the public record whether it runs a collection system or which parcels it reaches. Outside the limits, expect private septic.

Short term rentalsdiffers

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.
Black Hawk: No municipal short term rental ordinance, because there is no municipality. State licensing still applies, and the subdivision covenant usually decides.
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.
Keystone: A 2 percent municipal lodging tax applies to transient stays. Whether a separate short term rental ordinance exists is not clear from the public record, so confirm with the town in writing.

Schools

School districtdiffers

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.
Black Hawk: Rapid City Area Schools 51-4 for most addressesAssignment 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.
Keystone: Hill City School District 51-2Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.

Daily errands

Groceriesdiffers

St. Onge: Nothing in town. Spearfish is eleven miles southeast and Belle Fourche thirteen northwest.
Black Hawk: No full-service grocery store is in Black Hawk. Most larger grocery trips go into Rapid City.
Wall: The Wall Food Center on South Boulevard West.
Keystone: Nothing full service in town. Hill City is the closest small grocery and Rapid City is the real shopping, about 25 minutes northeast.

Healthcarediffers

St. Onge: Monument Health Spearfish Hospital, a 35 bed facility with a 24 hour emergency department, about 18 minutes away.
Black Hawk: Monument Health Rapid City Hospital
Wall: The Monument Health Wall Clinic on 7th Avenue is in town. The nearest hospital is Monument Health Rapid City, roughly 50 miles west.
Keystone: No clinic in town. Monument Health Custer Hospital has a 24 hour emergency department, and Rapid City has the larger hospital.

Recreationdiffers

St. Onge: Creek bottoms, hay ground and hunting country, with Spearfish Canyon and the northern Hills half an hour away.
Black Hawk: Piedmont and the Stagebarn area are just north, with the central hills close enough for a half day.
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.
Keystone: Mount Rushmore is past the town boundary, the 1880 Train runs from the Winter Street depot, and Custer State Park and the Norbeck Scenic Byway are close.

Mapped subdivisions

Outlines on filediffers

St. Onge: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
Black Hawk: 12 mapped outlines, 5 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.
Wall: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
Keystone: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.

The trade

Housing and patterndiffers

St. Onge: An 1891 French-Canadian railroad townsite that is now a cattle auction crossroads and an acreage corridor.
Black Hawk: Unincorporated foothills pockets where lot size, home age and outbuildings change from one parcel to the next.
Wall: A complete small prairie town with its own school, clinic and grocery, at the northern gate to the Badlands.
Keystone: An 1883 mining camp turned tourism town at the gateway to Mount Rushmore, 240 residents and millions of visitors.

What you gaindiffers

St. Onge: The cheapest ground in the northern Hills that still puts you eleven miles from a hospital and sixteen from three towns.
Black Hawk: Bigger lots, room for a shop, and about 12 to 15 minutes to downtown Rapid City, without a city hall setting the local rules.
Wall: Everything a town needs in one place, 50 miles from the city, at prairie prices.
Keystone: Nightly rental demand runs about as high as anywhere in the Black Hills, if the rules and the covenants check out for the specific property.

What you give updiffers

St. Onge: A three-way school district split you have to verify per parcel, and no services of any kind in town.
Black Hawk: There is no city hall, so the subdivision covenant decides what you can build or rent, and water, sewer and road maintenance all change parcel to parcel.
Wall: Fifty miles to a hospital and to real shopping, and an economy that runs on a three month season.
Keystone: A seasonal town with no school, no grocery and no clinic, and a housing stock where half the doors are dark in winter.

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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ComparingSt. Onge, Black Hawk, Wall, Keystone

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