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.
6 of 25 communities
Price filters only consider communities with a published trailing twelve month median, so towns without one do not appear in a price filter.
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.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide- 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- 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.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide- 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.
4 is the most that fits. Drop one first.Guide
Between St. Onge, Keystone, Box Elder, Black Hawk
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-90KeystoneCentral and Southern HillsBox ElderRapid City and the Ellsworth corridorBlack HawkRapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
- County
- St. OngeLawrence CountyKeystonePennington CountyBox ElderPennington CountyBlack HawkMeade County
- Jurisdiction
- St. OngeUnincorporated. No town government. Lawrence County zones the parcels and the Sheriff patrols them.KeystoneIncorporated town of Keystone, with unincorporated Pennington County on the surrounding hillsides.Box ElderCity of Box ElderBlack HawkUnincorporated Meade County
- Corridor
- St. OngeSD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at WhitewoodKeystoneUS 16ABox ElderI-90Black HawkI-90
- To downtown Rapid City
- St. OngeAbout 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesKeystoneAbout 25 minutes northeastBox Elder19 min, 10.9 miBlack HawkAbout 12 to 15 minutes
- To Ellsworth AFB
- St. OngeAbout 45 milesKeystoneAbout 40 minutesBox Elder9 min, 2.3 miBlack HawkAbout 30 minutes, the same I-90 run as Summerset just north
St. Onge, Keystone, Box Elder, Black Hawk
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-90St. Onge | Central and Southern HillsKeystone | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | ||||
| Regiondiffers | Northern Hills and I-90 | Central and Southern Hills | Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor | Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor |
| Countydiffers | Lawrence County | Pennington County | Pennington County | Meade 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. | Incorporated town of Keystone, with unincorporated Pennington County on the surrounding hillsides. | City of Box Elder | Unincorporated Meade County |
| Corridordiffers | SD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood | US 16A | I-90 | I-90 |
| To downtown Rapid Citydiffers | About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak. | About 25 minutes northeastDriving time and distance, off peak. | 19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak. | About 12 to 15 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. | About 40 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak. | 9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak. | About 30 minutes, the same I-90 run as Summerset just northDriving 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. | 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. | 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. | The road out front may be maintained publicly or by the neighborhood, so ask who plows before you buy. |
| 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. | 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. | $340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales. | 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. |
| Housing agediffers | An 1891 townsite with genuinely old buildings, surrounded by ranch and acreage property of every era. | An 1883 mining town, so genuinely old stock alongside newer builds and cabins. | Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement | Mixed street to street, sometimes neighbor to neighbor |
| New constructiondiffers | Limited, mostly infill and small projects | Limited, mostly infill and small projects | Active, with subdivisions still building | Limited, mostly infill and small projects |
| Acreagediffers | Acreage parcels are common here | Some acreage, mostly platted town lots | Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size. | Larger lots and acre properties are part of the Black Hawk market, including properties with room for shops and outbuildings. |
| Typical lotdiffers | Small townsite lots, with acreage and ranch ground around them. | Small and steep in town, larger on the surrounding hillsides outside the limits. | Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats | Bigger lots, with shop space and outbuildings normal |
| Covenants and HOAdiffersCovenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel. | Few plats here carry recorded covenants | Few plats here carry recorded covenants | Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat. | Recorded covenants on some plats, none on othersRecorded covenants vary by subdivision and should be checked for the specific property. |
| 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. | 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. | City of Box Elder municipal | Black Hawk Water User District |
| 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. | 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. | City of Box Elder municipal | Black Hawk Sanitary District serves roughly 200 homes and businesses; properties outside the district 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 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. | A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up. | No municipal short term rental ordinance, because there is no municipality. State licensing still applies, and the subdivision covenant usually decides. |
| 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. | Hill City School District 51-2Assignment 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. | Rapid City Area Schools 51-4 for most addressesAssignment 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. | Nothing full service in town. Hill City is the closest small grocery and Rapid City is the real shopping, about 25 minutes northeast. | Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town. | No full-service grocery store is in Black Hawk. Most larger grocery trips go into Rapid City. |
| Healthcarediffers | Monument Health Spearfish Hospital, a 35 bed facility with a 24 hour emergency department, about 18 minutes away. | No clinic in town. Monument Health Custer Hospital has a 24 hour emergency department, and Rapid City has the larger hospital. | 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 | Creek bottoms, hay ground and hunting country, with Spearfish Canyon and the northern Hills half an hour away. | 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. | 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 and the Stagebarn area are just north, with the central hills close enough for a half day. |
| Mapped subdivisions | ||||
| Outlines on filediffers | No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet. | No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet. | 16 mapped outlines, 3 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls. | 12 mapped outlines, 5 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls. |
| The trade | ||||
| Housing and patterndiffers | An 1891 French-Canadian railroad townsite that is now a cattle auction crossroads and an acreage corridor. | An 1883 mining camp turned tourism town at the gateway to Mount Rushmore, 240 residents and millions of visitors. | A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned. | Unincorporated foothills pockets where lot size, home age and outbuildings change from one parcel to the next. |
| What you gaindiffers | The cheapest ground in the northern Hills that still puts you eleven miles from a hospital and sixteen from three towns. | 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. | The Ellsworth main gate is in town, 9 minutes from most addresses, on city water and sewer, with the region's newest housing pipeline. | Bigger lots, room for a shop, and about 12 to 15 minutes to downtown Rapid City, without a city hall setting the local rules. |
| What you give updiffers | A three-way school district split you have to verify per parcel, and no services of any kind in town. | A seasonal town with no school, no grocery and no clinic, and a housing stock where half the doors are dark in winter. | 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. | 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. |
Where it sits
Regiondiffers
- St. Onge
- Northern Hills and I-90
- Keystone
- Central and Southern Hills
- Box Elder
- Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
- Black Hawk
- Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Countydiffers
- St. Onge
- Lawrence County
- Keystone
- Pennington County
- Box Elder
- Pennington County
- Black Hawk
- Meade 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.
- Keystone
- Incorporated town of Keystone, with unincorporated Pennington County on the surrounding hillsides.
- Box Elder
- City of Box Elder
- Black Hawk
- Unincorporated Meade County
Corridordiffers
- St. Onge
- SD 34, with I-90 seven miles southeast at Whitewood
- Keystone
- US 16A
- Box Elder
- I-90
- Black Hawk
- I-90
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers
- St. Onge
- About 44 miles, roughly 48 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Keystone
- About 25 minutes northeastDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Box Elder
- 19 min, 10.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Black Hawk
- About 12 to 15 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.
- Keystone
- About 40 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Box Elder
- 9 min, 2.3 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
- Black Hawk
- About 30 minutes, the same I-90 run as Summerset just northDriving 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Black Hawk
- The road out front may be maintained publicly or by the neighborhood, so ask who plows before you buy.
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.
- 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.
- Box Elder
- $340k to $400kMedian sold $367,000. Black Hills MLS, single family, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 235 closed sales.
- 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.
Housing agediffers
- St. Onge
- An 1891 townsite with genuinely old buildings, surrounded by ranch and acreage property of every era.
- Keystone
- An 1883 mining town, so genuinely old stock alongside newer builds and cabins.
- Box Elder
- Heavily new construction since the B-21 announcement
- Black Hawk
- Mixed street to street, sometimes neighbor to neighbor
New constructiondiffers
- St. Onge
- Limited, mostly infill and small projects
- Keystone
- Limited, mostly infill and small projects
- Box Elder
- Active, with subdivisions still building
- Black Hawk
- Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Acreagediffers
- St. Onge
- Acreage parcels are common here
- Keystone
- Some acreage, mostly platted town lots
- Box Elder
- Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.
- Black Hawk
- Larger lots and acre properties are part of the Black Hawk market, including properties with room for shops and outbuildings.
Typical lotdiffers
- St. Onge
- Small townsite lots, with acreage and ranch ground around them.
- Keystone
- Small and steep in town, larger on the surrounding hillsides outside the limits.
- Box Elder
- Small city lots, about 0.15 to 0.18 acres in the newer plats
- Black Hawk
- Bigger lots, with shop space and outbuildings normal
Covenants and HOAdiffers
Covenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel.- St. Onge
- Few plats here carry recorded covenants
- Keystone
- Few plats here carry recorded covenants
- Box Elder
- Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.
- Black Hawk
- Recorded covenants on some plats, none on othersRecorded covenants vary by subdivision and should be checked for the specific property.
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers
- St. Onge
- Mostly private well and septic
- Keystone
- Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
- Box Elder
- City water and sewer inside the limits
- Black Hawk
- 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.
- 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.
- Box Elder
- City of Box Elder municipal
- Black Hawk
- Black Hawk Water User District
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.
- 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.
- Box Elder
- City of Box Elder municipal
- Black Hawk
- Black Hawk Sanitary District serves roughly 200 homes and businesses; properties outside the district 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.
- 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.
- Box Elder
- A verify first town for rental plans, with one specific misconception the guide clears up.
- Black Hawk
- No municipal short term rental ordinance, because there is no municipality. State licensing still applies, and the subdivision covenant usually decides.
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.
- Keystone
- Hill City School District 51-2Assignment 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.
- Black Hawk
- Rapid City Area Schools 51-4 for most addressesAssignment 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.
- Keystone
- Nothing full service in town. Hill City is the closest small grocery and Rapid City is the real shopping, about 25 minutes northeast.
- Box Elder
- Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.
- Black Hawk
- No full-service grocery store is in Black Hawk. Most larger grocery trips go into Rapid City.
Healthcarediffers
- St. Onge
- Monument Health Spearfish Hospital, a 35 bed facility with a 24 hour emergency department, about 18 minutes away.
- Keystone
- No clinic in town. Monument Health Custer Hospital has a 24 hour emergency department, and Rapid City has the larger hospital.
- Box Elder
- Monument Health Box Elder Clinic provides primary and urgent care in town. Hospital-level care is in Rapid City.
- Black Hawk
- Monument Health Rapid City Hospital
Recreationdiffers
- St. Onge
- Creek bottoms, hay ground and hunting country, with Spearfish Canyon and the northern Hills half an hour away.
- 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.
- 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.
- Black Hawk
- Piedmont and the Stagebarn area are just north, with the central hills close enough for a half day.
Mapped subdivisions
Outlines on filediffers
- St. Onge
- No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.
- Keystone
- 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.
- Black Hawk
- 12 mapped outlines, 5 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.
The trade
Housing and patterndiffers
- St. Onge
- An 1891 French-Canadian railroad townsite that is now a cattle auction crossroads and an acreage corridor.
- Keystone
- An 1883 mining camp turned tourism town at the gateway to Mount Rushmore, 240 residents and millions of visitors.
- Box Elder
- A young city building its first downtown at Liberty Plaza on 110 acres, with roughly 800 residential units planned.
- Black Hawk
- Unincorporated foothills pockets where lot size, home age and outbuildings change from one parcel to the next.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
- Keystone
- A seasonal town with no school, no grocery and no clinic, and a housing stock where half the doors are dark in winter.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
Considering a home here?
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.

