Relocation

Compare Black Hills Communities

25 towns and unincorporated communities. Pick two to four and the full table appears underneath. Commutes are driving times to the Ellsworth main gate and downtown Rapid City. Median sold prices, where we have them, come from the MLS over the trailing twelve months with the source, window and sale count printed under each figure. Typical price bands are practical search ranges, not medians, and are labelled separately.

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Under $400k Close to Ellsworth Close to Rapid City Short commute New construction available Acreage available City water and sewer Smaller market More rural Established housing Newer housing Clear filters Clear everything

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What changes

Between Sturgis, New Underwood

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

Region: SturgisNorthern Hills and I-90New UnderwoodPrairie and Badlands
County: SturgisMeade CountyNew UnderwoodPennington County
Jurisdiction: SturgisNot recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.New UnderwoodIncorporated city of New Underwood, with Pennington County outside the limits
Corridor: SturgisI-90New UnderwoodI-90 exit 78
To downtown Rapid City: Sturgis33 min, 28.9 miNew UnderwoodAbout 18 miles west on I-90
To Ellsworth AFB: Sturgis48 min, 38.2 miNew UnderwoodAbout 11 miles, exit 78 to the main gate at exit 67A

Side by side

Sturgis, New Underwood

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-90Sturgis	Prairie and BadlandsNew Underwood
Where it sits
Regiondiffers	Northern Hills and I-90	Prairie and Badlands
Countydiffers	Meade County	Pennington County
JurisdictiondiffersCity versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.	Incorporated city of New Underwood, with Pennington County outside the limits
Corridordiffers	I-90	I-90 exit 78
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers	33 min, 28.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 18 miles west on I-90Distance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.
To Ellsworth AFBdiffers	48 min, 38.2 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	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.
Winter drivingdiffers	I-90 is state maintained and the city clears its own streets. The county roads out past the edges clear later.	I-90 is the commute and it is state maintained. Everything off the interstate is county and city plowing on its own schedule, and this is open prairie, so wind moves snow back onto the road.
Housing and lots
Typical pricediffers	$300k to $450kMedian sold $365,000. Mount Rushmore Area MLS, all residential, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 97 closed sales.	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.
Housing agediffers	Older near the core, newer on the edges	Older in-town stock with scattered newer building.
New construction	Limited, mostly infill and small projects	Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Acreagediffers	Acreage becomes more common outside the city core, including areas east of Sturgis and along the surrounding canyon and prairie corridors.	Acreage parcels are common here
Typical lotdiffers	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot dimensions.	Standard town lots on the grid, with ranch and acreage ground starting where the limits end.
Covenants and HOAdiffersCovenants are recorded per plat. The title commitment lists what binds the parcel.	Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.	Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers	Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify water and sewer service for the address.	Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
Waterdiffers	Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify the provider for the address.	City of New Underwood water inside the limits, drawn from two Madison Aquifer wells. Outside the limits, parcels are on small water associations or private wells.
Sewerdiffers	Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify the service for the address.	City sewer inside the limits. Rural parcels are on private septic permitted by Pennington County.
Short term rentalsdiffers	No short term rental licensing ordinance. What the city does regulate is residential camping during the Rally.	New Underwood is a highway town rather than a tourism town, and no short-term rental ordinance surfaced in the public record. Confirm with the city before you count on rental income.
Schools
School districtdiffers	Meade School District 46-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.	New Underwood School District 51-3Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
Daily errands
Groceriesdiffers	Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.	BJ's Country Store at the exit 78 interchange for fuel and convenience. Full grocery shopping is Rapid City, about 18 miles west.
Healthcarediffers	Monument Health Sturgis Hospital and clinic are in town.	No clinic in town. The Monument Health Rapid Valley Clinic on Elderberry Boulevard has walk-in urgent care seven days a week, and the hospital is in Rapid City.
Recreationdiffers	Bear Butte State Park, Fort Meade Recreation Area and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum, with the northern hills toward Spearfish and Deadwood close.	The municipal pool, with a donor-funded free swim program, and open prairie in every direction.
Mapped subdivisions
Outlines on filediffers	9 mapped outlines, 8 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	A full Main Street town with its own grocery, hospital and high school, and Bear Butte on the horizon.	A prairie town with its own K through 12 campus and its own interstate exit, 18 miles from the city.
What you gaindiffers	A town that stands on its own, grocery, hospital and high school inside it, at a price per square foot below Rapid City.	The only town this close to Ellsworth that still educates its own kids from kindergarten through graduation.
What you give updiffers	Half an hour of interstate each way to Rapid City, and for the first two weeks of August the Rally is your town.	You give up the grocery store, the clinic and the hardware store, and you inherit a small municipal water system with a publicly acknowledged supply question.

Northern Hills and I-90Sturgis
Prairie and BadlandsNew Underwood

Where it sits

Regiondiffers

Sturgis: Northern Hills and I-90
New Underwood: Prairie and Badlands

Countydiffers

Sturgis: Meade County
New Underwood: Pennington County

Jurisdictiondiffers

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

Sturgis: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.
New Underwood: Incorporated city of New Underwood, with Pennington County outside the limits

Corridordiffers

Sturgis: I-90
New Underwood: I-90 exit 78

To downtown Rapid Citydiffers

Sturgis: 33 min, 28.9 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
New Underwood: About 18 miles west on I-90Distance only. Drive time is not measured for this community, so time it from the parcel.

To Ellsworth AFBdiffers

Sturgis: 48 min, 38.2 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
New Underwood: 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.

Winter drivingdiffers

Sturgis: I-90 is state maintained and the city clears its own streets. The county roads out past the edges clear later.
New Underwood: I-90 is the commute and it is state maintained. Everything off the interstate is county and city plowing on its own schedule, and this is open prairie, so wind moves snow back onto the road.

Housing and lots

Typical pricediffers

Sturgis: $300k to $450kMedian sold $365,000. Mount Rushmore Area MLS, all residential, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 97 closed sales.
New Underwood: 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.

Housing agediffers

Sturgis: Older near the core, newer on the edges
New Underwood: Older in-town stock with scattered newer building.

New construction

Sturgis: Limited, mostly infill and small projects
New Underwood: Limited, mostly infill and small projects

Acreagediffers

Sturgis: Acreage becomes more common outside the city core, including areas east of Sturgis and along the surrounding canyon and prairie corridors.
New Underwood: Acreage parcels are common here

Typical lotdiffers

Sturgis: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot dimensions.
New Underwood: Standard town lots on the grid, with ranch and acreage ground starting where the limits end.

Covenants and HOAdiffers

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

Sturgis: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Read the recorded documents for the plat.
New Underwood: Few plats here carry recorded covenants

Utilities and rules

Utility patterndiffers

Sturgis: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify water and sewer service for the address.
New Underwood: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it

Waterdiffers

Sturgis: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify the provider for the address.
New Underwood: City of New Underwood water inside the limits, drawn from two Madison Aquifer wells. Outside the limits, parcels are on small water associations or private wells.

Sewerdiffers

Sturgis: Not recorded townwide in this guide. Verify the service for the address.
New Underwood: City sewer inside the limits. Rural parcels are on private septic permitted by Pennington County.

Short term rentalsdiffers

Sturgis: No short term rental licensing ordinance. What the city does regulate is residential camping during the Rally.
New Underwood: New Underwood is a highway town rather than a tourism town, and no short-term rental ordinance surfaced in the public record. Confirm with the city before you count on rental income.

Schools

School districtdiffers

Sturgis: Meade School District 46-1Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.
New Underwood: New Underwood School District 51-3Assignment follows the official boundary for the address. Confirm with the district.

Daily errands

Groceriesdiffers

Sturgis: Lynn's Dakotamart is a full-service grocery store in town.
New Underwood: BJ's Country Store at the exit 78 interchange for fuel and convenience. Full grocery shopping is Rapid City, about 18 miles west.

Healthcarediffers

Sturgis: Monument Health Sturgis Hospital and clinic are in town.
New Underwood: No clinic in town. The Monument Health Rapid Valley Clinic on Elderberry Boulevard has walk-in urgent care seven days a week, and the hospital is in Rapid City.

Recreationdiffers

Sturgis: Bear Butte State Park, Fort Meade Recreation Area and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum, with the northern hills toward Spearfish and Deadwood close.
New Underwood: The municipal pool, with a donor-funded free swim program, and open prairie in every direction.

Mapped subdivisions

Outlines on filediffers

Sturgis: 9 mapped outlines, 8 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.
New Underwood: No recorded subdivision outlines drawn for this community yet.

The trade

Housing and patterndiffers

Sturgis: A full Main Street town with its own grocery, hospital and high school, and Bear Butte on the horizon.
New Underwood: A prairie town with its own K through 12 campus and its own interstate exit, 18 miles from the city.

What you gaindiffers

Sturgis: A town that stands on its own, grocery, hospital and high school inside it, at a price per square foot below Rapid City.
New Underwood: The only town this close to Ellsworth that still educates its own kids from kindergarten through graduation.

What you give updiffers

Sturgis: Half an hour of interstate each way to Rapid City, and for the first two weeks of August the Rally is your town.
New Underwood: You give up the grocery store, the clinic and the hardware store, and you inherit a small municipal water system with a publicly acknowledged supply question.

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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