Does Rapid City have a city bus system and any colleges? (Spearfish: ski resorts, houses)

[designer]

I live in southern NM near Las Cruces but am getting tired of few trees
and the heat not to mention all the border patrol issues because of being
close to the border. Las Cruces is a nice modern town with a city bus system
and lots of shopping but it might be time for a change. I think Las Cruces is
about 100,000 population but I might be a little off. I'm not sure what the
population is for Rapid City. Also I am retired so I was wondering if the
property taxes are resonable there in the Rapid City area.

Thanks

[Jammie]

http://www.city-data.com/city/Rapid-...th-Dakota.html

OK, I had to look it up because I figured the population of Rapid is somewhere in the area of 60,000.

The percentage of property tax is quite high across the state~usually somewhere in the area of a bit over $20 per 1,000. But it still comes out quite reasonably since we also have a one third discount on property taxes. The houses in most of the Hills area are a bit higher then elsewhere in the state, but still much more reasonable then in a lot of areas.

You may want to check out realtor.com or the Rapid City Journal. It could give you a bit of an idea of the housing market there.

As far as a transit system~guess we'll have to wait for one of the locals to answer that question. Whenever we're there we have a car so we've never paid attention to it.

If you don't mind the cold and snow, you'll more then likely find western So. Dak to be a very nice place to live.

[DannyBanany]

Hello in Las Cruces!

I live in Rapid City and yes we have a city transit system. It is called RapidRide and it goes to all of the major streets in Rapid City. The buses are very comfortable and large too!

The population of Rapid City is about 70,000 and with the metro, about 120,000 (Wikipedia). There are several large coleges in the city too. The largest and most prestigious is the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. It is a very renown engineering school and I know of several people who have gone there and left with jobs awaiting with 6-digit incomes!

There is also Westerd Dakota Technical Institute, and NAU. Plus a few beauty schools.

Taxes are pretty steep in Rapid City which is why many people live outside city limits and commute to Rapid City. Every year the town takes the largest increase allowed by the state on property taxes! However we have just had an election and we booted the old mayor and council that we have had for nearly a decade! The new mayor promises not to raise taxes but to lower them.

If you have anymore questions on the Rapid City area do not hesitate to ask... I'll be happy to oblige!

[designer]

Thanks very much for all the answers. I would assume it is located far enough in the west to still be a low humidity type of area. Also is the area
a lot worse than Denver for snow in the winter?

Thanks

[uncleharley]

Yes, the climate is dry in the entire state, and it gets a little dryer the further west you go.
There is no place in the world that gets more snow than Denver, although Spearfish, Custer, Deadwood, and even Rapid can rival it in a bad year.

[BusySocialWorker]

We moved to Rapid from Denver - the weather is VERY similar - snow falls, but typically melts quickly, rather mild winters and almost no humidity - that is a large portion of why we chose this area East river can be quite humid - also on the west - due to low humidty - we have very few bugs in the summer (mosquitoes / flies etc).

[DannyBanany]

I'd have to argue with uncleharley. I know that the Deadwood-Spearfish area gets a lot of snow in the winter, hence the ski resorts, but Rapid City and the Piedmont-Summerset area stay rather dry. Snow comes mostly in the form of a spring blizzard and it tends to melt quickly.

Now Deadwood-Spearfish is a different story. Last autumn, I drove in Spearfish canyon and I saw snow. The strange thing was it was still September!!!