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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5 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, 3 of 4

Northern Hills and I-90

The Sturgis to Belle Fourche side of the Hills, with its own hospitals, schools and employers, so a job in Spearfish or Sturgis does not have to mean a Rapid City commute.

Sturgis
Typical price
$300k to $450kMedian sold $365,000. Mount Rushmore Area MLS, all residential, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 97 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
48 min, 38.2 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
33 min, 28.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify water and sewer service for the address.
School district
Meade School District 46-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
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Central and Southern Hills

In the timber and on the far southern edge, where lots get larger, well and septic get common, and the drive to a full service hospital becomes part of the decision.

Edgemont
Typical price
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.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 110 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To downtown Rapid City
About 100 miles northeastDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Utility pattern
City water and sewer inside the limits
School district
Edgemont School District 23-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
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Hot Springs
Typical price
Median sold $315,150Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 24 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
About an hour and fifteen minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
To downtown Rapid City
About 60 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Utility pattern
Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify water and sewer service for the address.
School district
Hot Springs School District 23-2Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
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Prairie and Badlands

East of the Hills on the open prairie, where lots run larger, water is often a private well, services are thinner and the wind and the drive are the tradeoffs.

New Underwood
Typical price
About $320,000 average sold, 20 sales over 24 monthsAverage sold $319,585. Black Hills MLS, single family, 24 months through August 2026, as of August 2026. 20 closed sales.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 11 miles, exit 78 to the main gate at exit 67ADistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To downtown Rapid City
About 18 miles west on I-90Distance 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
New Underwood School District 51-3Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
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Wall
Typical price
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.
To Ellsworth AFB
About 43 miles westDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To downtown Rapid City
About 50 miles west on I-90Distance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Utility pattern
City water and sewer inside the limits
School district
Wall School District 51-5Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
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What changes

Between St. Onge, Box Elder, Newell

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-90Box ElderRapid City and the Ellsworth corridorNewellNorthern Hills and I-90
County: St. OngeLawrence CountyBox ElderPennington CountyNewellButte County
Jurisdiction: St. OngeUnincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them.Box ElderCity of Box ElderNewellIncorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.
Corridor: St. OngeSD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at WhitewoodBox ElderI-90NewellUS 212 and SD 79
To downtown Rapid City: St. OngeAbout 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesBox Elder19 min, 10.9 miNewellAbout 54 miles, roughly 70 minutes
To Ellsworth AFB: St. OngeAbout 45 milesBox Elder9 min, 2.3 miNewellAbout 60 miles

Side by side

St. Onge, Box Elder, Newell

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 corridorBox Elder	Northern Hills and I-90Newell
Where it sits
Regiondiffers	Northern Hills and I-90	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor	Northern Hills and I-90
Countydiffers	Lawrence County	Pennington County	Butte 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.	City of Box Elder	Incorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.
Corridordiffers	SD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood	I-90	US 212 and SD 79
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers	About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.	19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesDriving 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.	9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 60 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
Winter drivingdiffers	Highway 34 is state maintained and connects three directions. County and private roads off it are a different conversation.	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.	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.
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.	$340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.	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.
Housing agediffers	An 1891 townsite with genuinely old buildings, surrounded by ranch and acreage property of every era.	Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement	A 1910 townsite, so genuinely old in-town stock with newer building scattered around it.
New constructiondiffers	Limited, mostly infill and small projects	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 parcels are common here
Typical lotdiffers	Small townsite lots, with acreage and ranch ground around them.	Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats	Small townsite lots, then irrigated project acreage, then rangeland, in that order as you drive out.
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.	Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers	Mostly private well and septic	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.	City of Box Elder municipal	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.
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.	City of Box Elder municipal	Municipal sewer inside the limits, billed monthly alongside water. Rural parcels are on 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.	A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.	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.
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.	Douglas School District 51-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.	Newell School District 09-2Assignment 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.	Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.	A grocery store and a hardware store in town, with Belle Fourche about 25 miles for anything larger.
Healthcarediffers	Monument Health Spearfish Hospital, a 35 bed facility with a 24 hour emergency department, about 18 minutes away.	Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.	No hospital or clinic in Newell. Sturgis is about 26 miles, Spearfish about 37, and Monument Health has a clinic in Belle Fourche.
Recreationdiffers	Creek bottoms, hay ground and hunting country, with Spearfish Canyon and the northern Hills half an hour away.	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.	A nine-hole golf course, the Newell Museum, the Belle Fourche Reservoir north of town, and hunting in every direction.
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.	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.	A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.	A federal reclamation townsite from 1910 at the center of a 57,000 acre irrigation project, with a sale barn and its own school.
What you gaindiffers	The cheapest ground in the northern Hills that still puts you eleven miles from a hospital and sixteen from three towns.	The Ellsworth main gate is in town, 9 minutes from most addresses, on city water and sewer, with the region's newest housing pipeline.	A complete small town with its own K through 12 school and irrigated ground around it, at prices the Hills corridor cannot touch.
What you give updiffers	A three-way school district split you have to verify per parcel, and no services of any kind in town.	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.	Seventy minutes to Rapid City, 26 miles to a hospital, and an irrigation district assessment that attaches to the land as a lien.

Northern Hills and I-90St. Onge
Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBox Elder
Northern Hills and I-90Newell

Where it sits

Regiondiffers

St. Onge: Northern Hills and I-90
Box Elder: Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Newell: Northern Hills and I-90

Countydiffers

St. Onge: Lawrence County
Box Elder: Pennington County
Newell: Butte 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.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder
Newell: Incorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.

Corridordiffers

St. Onge: SD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood
Box Elder: I-90
Newell: US 212 and SD 79

To downtown Rapid Citydiffers

St. Onge: About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
Box Elder: 19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Newell: About 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesDriving 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.
Box Elder: 9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Newell: About 60 milesDistance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.

Winter drivingdiffers

St. Onge: Highway 34 is state maintained and connects three directions. County and private roads off it are a different conversation.
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.
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.

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

Housing agediffers

St. Onge: An 1891 townsite with genuinely old buildings, surrounded by ranch and acreage property of every era.
Box Elder: Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement
Newell: A 1910 townsite, so genuinely old in-town stock with newer building scattered around it.

New constructiondiffers

St. Onge: Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Box Elder: Active, with subdivisions still building
Newell: Limited, mostly infill and small projects

Acreagediffers

St. Onge: Acreage parcels are common here
Box Elder: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.
Newell: Acreage parcels are common here

Typical lotdiffers

St. Onge: Small townsite lots, with acreage and ranch ground around them.
Box Elder: Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats
Newell: Small townsite lots, then irrigated project acreage, then rangeland, in that order as you drive out.

Covenants and HOAdiffers

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

St. Onge: Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Box Elder: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.
Newell: Few plats here carry recorded covenants

Utilities and rules

Utility patterndiffers

St. Onge: Mostly private well and septic
Box Elder: City water and sewer inside the limits
Newell: 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.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder municipal
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.

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.
Box Elder: City of Box Elder municipal
Newell: Municipal sewer inside the limits, billed monthly alongside water. Rural parcels are on 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.
Box Elder: A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.
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.

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.
Box Elder: Douglas School District 51-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Newell: Newell School District 09-2Assignment 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.
Box Elder: Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.
Newell: A grocery store and a hardware store in town, with Belle Fourche about 25 miles for anything larger.

Healthcarediffers

St. Onge: Monument Health Spearfish Hospital, a 35 bed facility with a 24 hour emergency department, about 18 minutes away.
Box Elder: Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.
Newell: No hospital or clinic in Newell. Sturgis is about 26 miles, Spearfish about 37, and Monument Health has a clinic in Belle Fourche.

Recreationdiffers

St. Onge: Creek bottoms, hay ground and hunting country, with Spearfish Canyon and the northern Hills half an hour away.
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.
Newell: A nine-hole golf course, the Newell Museum, the Belle Fourche Reservoir north of town, and hunting in every direction.

Mapped subdivisions

Outlines on filediffers

St. Onge: 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.
Newell: 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.
Box Elder: A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.
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.

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.
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.
Newell: A complete small town with its own K through 12 school and irrigated ground around it, at prices the Hills corridor cannot touch.

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.
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.
Newell: Seventy minutes to Rapid City, 26 miles to a hospital, and an irrigation district assessment that attaches to the land as a lien.

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, Box Elder, Newell

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