An honest assessment of SIoux Falls and SD (Brookings: movers, credit card)

[fireandice1000]

I've been here for a very long time, over 20 years. I've noticed that a lot of people are wanting to move to Sioux Falls and wanted to tell everyone what really is going on here. I'm not going to discourage everyone from moving here but I will be honest; Sioux Falls won't necessarily be a good fit for a lot of people wanting to move here. Some will have good luck and a small minority will be as happy as a clam. I'm not a native here but I've been here long enough to see a lot of people come and go in my time here. I am going to focus on Sioux Falls mostly but I will comment on SD as a whole as well.

I will be upfront on Sioux Falls as a viable community to live in first off. Sioux Falls is NOT a community to move to if you are wanting to work in a high-flying field or career. Unless you are involved in finance, especially the credit card industry, Sioux Falls has a weak, transient job market. Both Sioux Falls and SD are touted as being low unemployment states, which is true to a small extent. What the media doesn't tell you is that a majority of the unemployed and underemployed in SD aren't reported simply because farm labor isn't counted in the UE statistics, and many people who are fired or laid off don't apply for unemployment simply because the process is onerous in SD and because the benefits, if you do get them, are very small. You have Avera Health and Sanford Health in Sioux Falls which are good sized employers as well, but for hospitals they aren't very strong employers. Sanford Health used to be called Sioux Valley Hospital until T Denny Sanford bought them out with a 'philantrophic donation' back in 2007. I won't go into much here on TD Sanford but his money was gotten by ill gains if you ask me. His credit card operation in Sioux Falls is rather typical of many local companies in SD. Avera Health is a better hospital system overall but is a very insular organization; you have to know someone there to get a job even if you're a physician yourself. Other employers: Smithfield has a pork processing plant in the city called John Morrell which employs about 3000 people. Most of them are immigrants but overall aren't too bad to be around. The plant however is physically falling apart and probably will be condemned in the future. Given that the pork industry overall is much weaker than even ten years ago I wouldn't be surprised if the Sioux Falls plant closes up in the next decade or so. The rest of employers in Sioux Falls are smaller and weaker so don't expect much. Sioux Falls is basically a huge bedroom community so most of the employment is in retail and restaurants. YOu have agriculture and farming nearby but that is cyclical in its nature and like many businesses in Sioux Falls and SD, you have to know someone to get a job there. South Dakota is a very heavily subsidized state and economically very poor; the credit card industries here tend to do well in economic slowdowns and hurt real bad when the job market nationwide does well. The next upturn in the job market for the rest of the USA may mean that Citicards and Wells Fargo cut a few jobs from their phone banks here.

Housing in Sioux Falls can be tricky. I would recommend not buying in Sioux Falls until you know that you want to live here. Housing in SIoux Falls is artificially high; it's somewhat cheaper than many areas in the USA but is still awfully high. Much of the south/southwest end of the city has seen a lot of development in the last decade with mostly suburban homes and McMansions in the southern portion of the city. You'll want to stay in a premium neighborhood if you buy; the Tuthill area and surrounding neighborhoods are ideal. Most of the other neighborhoods in SIoux Falls come across as rough around the edges, and stay OUT of the neighborhoods north of 26th Street. The Mckennan Park area is sort of okay if you want to live the old-fashioned lifestyle but you're dealing with older housing stock, much of which has not been maintained well. Most housing in SIoux Falls is sort of low quality to begin with so I recommend a newer home if you can get it.

If you are LGBT or any sort of minority, I would strongly advise against moving to SD or Sioux Falls unless you have a VERY GOOD social network already set up here. Not an okay one or good one, you'll need one that is VERY GOOD or better. I can guarantee you that if you are a racial minority or if the locals find out or suspect you are LGBT or a religious minority, you WILL be ostracised very quickly. Don't listen to the media here, the local media here is bought and paid for by the local movers and shakers, and of course they want it to look pretty to the outside world. Sioux Falls and SD have turned much more to a meaner feel in the last decade and with the polarization in American society getting worse, I think that SD could end up being a nasty place for LGBT people and minorities in the future. Keep that in mind if you are one of them.
If you are moving to SD or Sioux Falls with the expectation that it's a libertarian utopia, don't bother. I say this as someone who leans libertarian myself, and I can guarantee you that SD is far from libertarian in practice. FOr the record, most of the rural western states are far from libertarian in practice overall. At the federal level, sure, SD/ND/NE/WY/MT and all the other prairie and mountain states vote somewhat libertarian. But it's a whole different story at the state and local level. I've seen so many cases of people being railroaded here by the cities and states here that I could fill an entire forum with it. SD and Sioux Falls are like alcoholic families; they're good at keeping secrets from the world (and there is a big problem with domestic violence and alcoholism out here too but the media doesn't talk about it). I hate to use that analogy but I have to be honest, SD is a very corrupt state. Janklow and his regime were just a small taste of the crap that goes on here. If you have a problem with a local business, I'm sorry to say, you're on your own here. It's caveat emptor out here.

Education is okay here. Private schools here are mostly Catholic so your options for private schools are limited if you're not Catholic. Public schools are somewhat okay but not great. Unless your kid is a natural high achiever you might need remedial classes in college as the high schools here don't prepare kids for college as well as they should. College and votech schools here are somewhat affordable but financial aid is tricky. Don't count on much aid here unless you are a friend of someone in the college or school. The state colleges and votechs tend to be better quality in my opinion.

People who move here need to be aware that the climate here is very harsh. Spring and autumn are relatively mild but summers can be very hot and winters are VERY COLD. YOu'd better get a vehicle that can handle snow very well, especially if you live out in the country or a small town. South Dakota is also a very dry state in the summer so summers can be both hot and very dry sometimes. If you are buying a house make sure that the HVAC systems are as up to date as possible. SD air can be very dirty and dusty, and HVAC systems that haven't been cleaned for years can be a pain to deal with. Also, check the pipes in houses; housing that hasn't had heat for a while may have cracking pipes from ice in the winter.

I'm not going to sugarcoat this thread. South Dakota and SIoux Falls are harder to live in than what the media talks about. Most people will probably not want to live here if they get a glimpse of behind the scenes. I moved here back in 1992 with family and have stayed here ever since. I only stay here because of family. It was a tolerable place to live for the most part but Sioux Falls started to decline in the late 90s/early 2000s and really took a dive in the last 5 years. I'll be probably leaving soon if you are wondering why I'm still here. It's sad to see it go but America's changing very fast and I don't want to be on the wrong side of the fence.

[Raean]

One man's trash is another man's treasure

[SD4020]

Originally Posted by Raean

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Think of it as a filter.

[Peperosso]

Thanks for the write up, I think you are right on the money about employment. Also if I might add the recent graduates high school and college are not counted, plus anyone that has had their unemployment benefits ran out, or someone like me who was unemployed for 3 months seeking employement that quit their job to move from another state, here in SD you do not qualify for unemployment. All of those people are not counted.
I do not expect John Morrell to be open 5 or 10 years from now due to all of the environmental concerns, I'm amazed that they are still here but they do bring something positive to the community in the form of jobs and taxes. When the new hotel gets built and finished downtown on 8th st I think that will be the beginning of the end of them.

Sioux Falls, SD is very typical midwestern from what I've seen in the last year, there are a lot of issues that are very similar to Missouri. Things do not get changed if people don't point them out, and if you're unhappy with the situation here vote out the people that are in charge of the city.

Every city has it's good and bad parts.
When most people move they always expect their dreams and never want to accept reality, everyone should always have a back up plan...

[24522]

When it comes to employment in SF and/or SD, underemployment is a bigger problem than unemployment. Put simply, there are a lot of positions filled by people who are overqualified for what the position requires, therefore underpaid for their qualifications. SD also has the highest percentage of multiple income households in the nation and the highest percentage of people working 2 or more jobs.
I always think the best way to describe SF to someone from the east coast is to tell them to imagine taking a suburb of one of the large cities and plopping it down in a sparsely populated area. If they'd miss the big city amenities, activities and attractions, they'd hate it here. If they'd relish leaving behind the big city problems, people, traffic, they might like it. Either way, most of them get overwhelmed by the wide open spaces in a short time anyway.

[stockwiz]

Interesting read. There are better and worse places to live. I doubt people are all that different anywhere you go. I'm more of a loner so I don't notice the social aspects, except for how everyone seems to be in each other's business, at least at work. That sounds to me like it would be normal wherever you go since humans are social creatures. I prefer the anonymous feel of a larger city vs a small town where 'everyone knows your name' ... on the other hand I love areas so sparsely populated nobody's around... such as my mother's acreage or driving around the back roads of west river.

Brookings seems to be doing a decent job the last few years with progress. I email them suggestions from time to time. I should go to the city council meetings. I'm here because my job pays alright. I have a garden (community gardens) without having to overpay for a house and pay high property taxes, and am within joggable distance of nice parks, on which is being worked on now, so I'm happy. I don't need a lot of sophisticated things to do, just relax outdoors. The last 2 springs have been so nice, I feel like I've been enjoying summer for months already.

I have noticed the tendency for people to 'live to work' out here though. I am determined to stay single and maintain a low cost of living to avoid that. What's the point in life if it's all spent at work, especially if you don't particularly enjoy small talk and work relationships like myself.... I'd rather raise a family in a trailer (a clean one in a clean park) and be able to spend time with them, and maintain my 12 year old vehicle another 8 years and invest the extra.

[Goober13]

I have spent over 8 years working here over 1/2 the year during all the seasons. I see countless people in bad marriages who won't get a divorce,who just "tolerate" each other, wealthy people who live to work, who have the money to live the good life, who are sugar daddies to strippers, rather than getting a divorce and moving on. A lot of these people if they lived in a major city would have more options of meeting new people, and developing new healthy hobbies.

Smoking is prevalent in a large portion of the population, and many young people take up this nasty habit and are addicted. Lots of drug use and excessive drinking too.

Jobs don't pay well. There is a lot of loneliness. The winters are cold as the original poster said, and as soon as the snow melts, it rains all the time, and then tornado season starts, and humidity can be oppressive.

Racial diversity is limited, there are good people here, but many are not used to being around different types of people.

I would never move here because of this. I do my business for several months at a time and can't wait to leave. I am bored to death. Like I said, I have met some very nice people here, but the lifestyle, weather, lack of diversity,lack and variety of decent shopping, night life,and restaurants, and small population, is something I would have a hard time with.

To each his or her own, but this is a different lifestyle that some people can appreciate, and others abhor.