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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6 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

Find a community

Selected, 3 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.

Black Hawk
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.
Compare Guide
Box Elder
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.
Compare Guide
Green Valley
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.
Compare Guide
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.
Compare Guide
Rapid Valley
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.
Compare Guide
Summerset
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.
Selected Guide

What changes

Between Summerset, Spearfish, Newell

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

Region: SummersetRapid City and the Ellsworth corridorSpearfishNorthern Hills and I-90NewellNorthern Hills and I-90
County: SummersetMeade CountySpearfishLawrence CountyNewellButte County
Jurisdiction: SummersetCity of Summerset, incorporated July 2005SpearfishNot recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.NewellIncorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.
Corridor: SummersetI-90SpearfishI-90NewellUS 212 and SD 79
To downtown Rapid City: Summerset15 min, 10.0 miSpearfish53 min, 47.8 miNewellAbout 54 miles, roughly 70 minutes
To Ellsworth AFB: Summerset30 min, 19.2 miSpearfish68 min, 57.0 miNewellAbout 60 miles

Side by side

Summerset, Spearfish, 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	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorSummerset	Northern Hills and I-90Spearfish	Northern Hills and I-90Newell
Where it sits
Regiondiffers	Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor	Northern Hills and I-90	Northern Hills and I-90
Countydiffers	Meade County	Lawrence County	Butte County
JurisdictiondiffersCity versus county decides who provides service and who inspects the work.	City of Summerset, incorporated July 2005	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.	Incorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.
Corridordiffers	I-90	I-90	US 212 and SD 79
To downtown Rapid Citydiffers	15 min, 10.0 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	53 min, 47.8 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	About 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.
To Ellsworth AFBdiffers	30 min, 19.2 miDriving time and distance, off peak.	68 min, 57.0 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	The commute is I-90, so winter driving here is interstate driving rather than a two lane canyon road.	Chinook winds off the hills are a genuine feature of winter in this corridor.	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	Builder inventory sets the level here, and the MLS publishes no Summerset median on its own.	$400k to $600kMedian sold $475,000. Mount Rushmore Area MLS, all residential, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 199 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	Mostly 2000s to present	Older stock in the middle, edge subdivisions built 1996 to 2023	A 1910 townsite, so genuinely old in-town stock with newer building scattered around it.
New constructiondiffers	Limited, mostly infill and small projects	New construction remains active on the edges of town, including areas such as Sky Ridge and other newer developments.	Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Acreagediffers	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.	Acreage is available around Spearfish, primarily on surrounding Lawrence County ground rather than in the city core.	Acreage parcels are common here
Typical lotdiffers	Wide lots on new streets	Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot dimensions.	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.	Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others	Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others	Few plats here carry recorded covenants
Utilities and rules
Utility patterndiffers	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.	City water and sewer are typical inside city-served areas. Acreage outside the city can use wells, septic systems or other service arrangements, so utilities should be confirmed by address.	Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it
Waterdiffers	Black Hawk Water User District, or Diamond D Water in Sun Valley	City water inside the Spearfish limits. Acreage outside the limits runs on a private well or a rural water district.Read off the townwide utility pattern in the guide. The service address controls, so confirm the provider before you write an offer.	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	City of Summerset	City sewer inside the Spearfish limits, private septic on acreage outside them.Read off the townwide utility pattern in the guide. The service address controls, so confirm the provider before you write an offer.	Municipal sewer inside the limits, billed monthly alongside water. Rural parcels are on private septic.
Short term rentalsdiffers	The thinnest rules on this list, which means a rental plan has to be pinned down for the specific address.	The city studied rules in 2023 and 2024 and maintains an official short term rental page. Verify the current ordinance first.	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	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.	Spearfish School District 40-2Assignment 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	Not recorded in this guide. Check what is open near the address.	Full-service grocery options in town include Walmart, Safeway and Lueders Food Centers.	A grocery store and a hardware store in town, with Belle Fourche about 25 miles for anything larger.
Healthcarediffers	Hospital-level care is in Rapid City, about 15 minutes south.	Monument Health Spearfish Hospital and outpatient clinics are in town.	No hospital or clinic in Newell. Sturgis is about 26 miles, Spearfish about 37, and Monument Health has a clinic in Belle Fourche.
Recreationdiffers	Leisure Lane, Steamboat and Castlewood parks are the everyday recreation. Leisure Lane is the big one, with playgrounds, basketball, picnic shelters, open grass and the community garden.	D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery, Black Hills State University events, and Terry Peak and Deadwood a short drive south.	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	2 mapped outlines, 2 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.	25 mapped outlines, 13 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	New streets and builder inventory, with Highlands at Norman Ranch adding over 100 first phase homesites across more than 300 acres.	A university town with a walkable middle, growing fast enough that new construction has moved to the edges.	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	Newer houses on city sewer with Hills views at a price central Rapid City does not offer, and Highlands at Norman Ranch is still selling first phase homesites.	A downtown you can walk across, Black Hills State and Spearfish Canyon out the back door, on city water and sewer.	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	You are fifteen minutes out from most of Rapid City's services and you drive I-90 to get to them in the winter. The city is also split between Meade 46-1 and Rapid City Area Schools 51-4, so the district follows the address.	The highest median sold price of the region's higher volume markets at $475,000 across 199 sales, and Rapid City is 53 minutes on the interstate with the Ellsworth gate 68.	Seventy minutes to Rapid City, 26 miles to a hospital, and an irrigation district assessment that attaches to the land as a lien.

Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridorSummerset
Northern Hills and I-90Spearfish
Northern Hills and I-90Newell

Where it sits

Regiondiffers

Summerset: Rapid City and the Ellsworth corridor
Spearfish: Northern Hills and I-90
Newell: Northern Hills and I-90

Countydiffers

Summerset: Meade County
Spearfish: Lawrence County
Newell: Butte County

Jurisdictiondiffers

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

Summerset: City of Summerset, incorporated July 2005
Spearfish: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The address decides whether it is city or county ground.
Newell: Incorporated municipality of Newell, with Butte County outside the limits.

Corridordiffers

Summerset: I-90
Spearfish: I-90
Newell: US 212 and SD 79

To downtown Rapid Citydiffers

Summerset: 15 min, 10.0 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Spearfish: 53 min, 47.8 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Newell: About 54 miles, roughly 70 minutesDriving time and distance, off peak.

To Ellsworth AFBdiffers

Summerset: 30 min, 19.2 miDriving time and distance, off peak.
Spearfish: 68 min, 57.0 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

Summerset: The commute is I-90, so winter driving here is interstate driving rather than a two lane canyon road.
Spearfish: Chinook winds off the hills are a genuine feature of winter in this corridor.
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

Summerset: Builder inventory sets the level here, and the MLS publishes no Summerset median on its own.
Spearfish: $400k to $600kMedian sold $475,000. Mount Rushmore Area MLS, all residential, trailing 12 months, as of August 2026. 199 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

Summerset: Mostly 2000s to present
Spearfish: Older stock in the middle, edge subdivisions built 1996 to 2023
Newell: A 1910 townsite, so genuinely old in-town stock with newer building scattered around it.

New constructiondiffers

Summerset: Limited, mostly infill and small projects
Spearfish: New construction remains active on the edges of town, including areas such as Sky Ridge and other newer developments.
Newell: Limited, mostly infill and small projects

Acreagediffers

Summerset: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot size.
Spearfish: Acreage is available around Spearfish, primarily on surrounding Lawrence County ground rather than in the city core.
Newell: Acreage parcels are common here

Typical lotdiffers

Summerset: Wide lots on new streets
Spearfish: Not recorded townwide in this guide. The recorded plat carries the lot dimensions.
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.

Summerset: Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others
Spearfish: Recorded covenants on some plats, none on others
Newell: Few plats here carry recorded covenants

Utilities and rules

Utility patterndiffers

Summerset: 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.
Spearfish: City water and sewer are typical inside city-served areas. Acreage outside the city can use wells, septic systems or other service arrangements, so utilities should be confirmed by address.
Newell: Mixed, municipal service in town with well and septic outside it

Waterdiffers

Summerset: Black Hawk Water User District, or Diamond D Water in Sun Valley
Spearfish: City water inside the Spearfish limits. Acreage outside the limits runs on a private well or a rural water district.Read off the townwide utility pattern in the guide. The service address controls, so confirm the provider before you write an offer.
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

Summerset: City of Summerset
Spearfish: City sewer inside the Spearfish limits, private septic on acreage outside them.Read off the townwide utility pattern in the guide. The service address controls, so confirm the provider before you write an offer.
Newell: Municipal sewer inside the limits, billed monthly alongside water. Rural parcels are on private septic.

Short term rentalsdiffers

Summerset: The thinnest rules on this list, which means a rental plan has to be pinned down for the specific address.
Spearfish: The city studied rules in 2023 and 2024 and maintains an official short term rental page. Verify the current ordinance first.
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

Summerset: 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.
Spearfish: Spearfish School District 40-2Assignment 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

Summerset: Not recorded in this guide. Check what is open near the address.
Spearfish: Full-service grocery options in town include Walmart, Safeway and Lueders Food Centers.
Newell: A grocery store and a hardware store in town, with Belle Fourche about 25 miles for anything larger.

Healthcarediffers

Summerset: Hospital-level care is in Rapid City, about 15 minutes south.
Spearfish: Monument Health Spearfish Hospital and outpatient clinics are in town.
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

Summerset: Leisure Lane, Steamboat and Castlewood parks are the everyday recreation. Leisure Lane is the big one, with playgrounds, basketball, picnic shelters, open grass and the community garden.
Spearfish: D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery, Black Hills State University events, and Terry Peak and Deadwood a short drive south.
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

Summerset: 2 mapped outlines, 2 with a full guideReference outlines from county and city GIS, not surveys. The recorded plat controls.
Spearfish: 25 mapped outlines, 13 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

Summerset: New streets and builder inventory, with Highlands at Norman Ranch adding over 100 first phase homesites across more than 300 acres.
Spearfish: A university town with a walkable middle, growing fast enough that new construction has moved to the edges.
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

Summerset: Newer houses on city sewer with Hills views at a price central Rapid City does not offer, and Highlands at Norman Ranch is still selling first phase homesites.
Spearfish: A downtown you can walk across, Black Hills State and Spearfish Canyon out the back door, on city water and sewer.
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

Summerset: You are fifteen minutes out from most of Rapid City's services and you drive I-90 to get to them in the winter. The city is also split between Meade 46-1 and Rapid City Area Schools 51-4, so the district follows the address.
Spearfish: The highest median sold price of the region's higher volume markets at $475,000 across 199 sales, and Rapid City is 53 minutes on the interstate with the Ellsworth gate 68.
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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ComparingSummerset, Spearfish, Newell

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