Rapid City vs. Billings, MT? Advice needed. (sales, lease) - City-Data Forum

Asmodai · 02-12-2011, 12:59 PM

My wife and I have all but decided that we are leaving the East Coast for good. The lease on our home is up in two months and we're gone. We have visited the Montana/Wyoming/South Dakota area several times and know we would be happy in any of the three states. Primarily for work reasons (mine) we have narrowed it down to Billings, MT or Rapid City. Thankfully, my wife telecommutes and can work from anywhere in the country that has an internet connection. I, on the other hand, will need to find a job. It seems that Billings has most of the jobs in MT and Rapid City is the same in SD. I will admit that I am not fond of the "industrial" look of Billings nor the sprawled out feel to it. Rapid City on the other hand has a much smaller feel to it and the topography and scenery is much more to our liking (we're both outdoors people). Either city would be a vast improvement as far as we're concerned having lived on the East Coast for the last 20 years.

We would appreciate anyone's advice/opinions on either city, but especially from those that are familiar with both. We're most interested in the economy of both cities compared to each other, and the typical stuff like crime, cost of living, etc. We have no kids, so quality of schools is not a consideration for us. Thanks in advance!

SD4020 · 02-12-2011, 01:11 PM

I don't mind Billings. It is an industrial town to boot. It is a short drive to some amazing views of mountains. I moved back to rapid after being gone for a 11 years and I love it here. It is tucked in close to the hills. Not as tall as the montana mountains but still pretty.

Services are similar in each town. Montana doesn't have a sales take. South Dakota doesn't have an income tax. They do have a sales and property tax. Rapid city property tax rate is somewhat obnoxious.

Asmodai · 02-12-2011, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SD4020

I don't mind Billings. It is an industrial town to boot. It is a short drive to some amazing views of mountains. I moved back to rapid after being gone for a 11 years and I love it here. It is tucked in close to the hills. Not as tall as the montana mountains but still pretty.

Services are similar in each town. Montana doesn't have a sales take. South Dakota doesn't have an income tax. They do have a sales and property tax. Rapid city property tax rate is somewhat obnoxious.

Thanks for your input. One of the pluses for SD is that it doesn't have an income tax. I understand the sales tax is 5% and food and medications are exempt?

SD4020 · 02-12-2011, 01:46 PM

State rate is 4% now with most cities charging 2% There is talk of temporary sales tax increase to fix a budget shortfall. The governor is adamantly opposed to any tax increase. This is going on now in the legislature. There are no real exceptions... Except for agricultural consumables like feeds and so forth.

Vehicles are subject to a 3% tax along with construction... Based on the actual cash price. Say you trade in a car. Your purchase price is 25k and with trade in you have to pony up the 5k you'd pay 3% the 5k not the 25k.

the old man · 02-14-2011, 11:53 AM

what kind of work do you do?

Danimarie · 02-15-2011, 12:31 PM

I don't know anything about Rapid City.

I live near Billings, MT (Laurel) and I have lived in Billings for about 6 months prior to moving to Laurel. I personally really like Billings because it has all the stores I need. (Including natural food and medicine places)
I also really like the farmer's market here. And I love that it's a short drive to many really neat outdoorsy things. So, It's certainly a good option.

We are currently looking to move to VA though.

We got friends out there.

prairierose · 02-16-2011, 07:34 PM

Unless something has changed since I last checked, South Dakota does charge sales tax on food. Not sure about medicine.

ElkHunter · 02-16-2011, 08:04 PM

I haven't chimed in. Rapid City is the place to be. I've lived in both. You can be what you want to be. You can do what you want. It's a town of whatever wll be. It's growing in a great way. Well planned expansion.

I've lived in Billings. You can keep it.

wolywig · 02-24-2011, 01:10 PM

We lived in Billings( city of Lockwood) for about the last 6 & 1/2 years & It is a tremendous town!!! I just can't say enough praise for Billings!!! The town maybe spread out but there is I-90 & you can get to just about any place in town in 15 minutes!!!! There are all the stores that you could want & restaurants & really just about anything else that you could want!!!! Hospital is great & so is the doctoring !!!!! Also there are many places close to visit & lots of them are free!!!!!!! Go to city web site & you can learn more & no sales tax was WONDERFUL!!!! People are nice & friendly or they were to us!!! I miss it terriable & am very sorry we moved away but we thought we should be closed to kids??? I don't know anything about Rapid City but I sure do know lots about Billings!!!!!

indy_317 · 02-26-2011, 08:02 AM

I have visited both, and I like Rapid City better than Billings. We didn't get to spend as much time in Billings as in Rapid, but we did go out and drive around, check out the place, and grab a bite to eat. I personally would pick Rapid City over Billings. I felt that Rapid City was more in the hills/mountains than Billings. The weather appears to be the same for both. Both are also at about the exact same elevation. I would choose Rapid City because it is more in the middle/closer to things to see and do: Devil's Tower, Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, and I think the drive to Yellowstone NP wouldn't be that much more longer than from Billings.

I think right now, with Billings being a larger metro area, finding certain jobs would be easier. That being said, I also think that Rapid City will always be a tourist destination, and even if the economy gets bad, I can actually see Rapid City still getting tourist dollars, if not even improving in that aspect. It is much cheaper to get in the car, drive a day or two and use Rapid City as a base than take some $3,000+ cruise, or some $8,000+ exotic vacation.

So the only benefit of Rapid I see is that it is likely closer to more outdoors stuff in the hills/mountains, not as "industrial", and their tourist economy might not suffer as much as one would thing in a down economy.