East River (Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen: real estate, house, school districts)

[eskape]

Originally Posted by Jammie

I don't know if any of our members are from Aberdeen that post here, BUT I believe that a member on the OK forum grew up there. I will contact her and see if there's anything she can answer for you.

Thanks, Jammie. Looking forward to hearing more. Aberdeen seems like a potentially great place. Once I learn more, I might fly up to Sioux Falls and then drive the rest of the way up to Aberdeen so as to see a little bit of SD while I'm there.

Any and all info on Aberdeen is much appreciated.

[rd2007]

Another disgruntled Texas resident

I'm looking for pretty much the exact same thing, but can easily handle a city of 150K. The SD traffic is what I'm looking forward to the most, though. The thought of basically never having a traffic issue sounds like paradise to me.

[windtimber]

Though you suggest you want to leave IT work, perhaps you should consider Mitchell? It has 3 large telecommunications companies which rely heavily on IT professionals. Of course, I-90 runs along the south edge of town...but as a previous poster said you have to understand traffic in SoDak. Mitchell is the 8th largest city in the state with a population of 15,000! 4 cars at a stop light is a big traffic snarl!

[eskape]

Originally Posted by rd2007

Another disgruntled Texas resident

I'm looking for pretty much the exact same thing, but can easily handle a city of 150K. The SD traffic is what I'm looking forward to the most, though. The thought of basically never having a traffic issue sounds like paradise to me.

rd2007, what do you do for work, if I might ask, and will you be doing the same thing if you move north?

You can keep your traffic, but I will, however, miss authentic Tex-Mex food. There is not much better than freshly grilled fajitas with onions and cilantro, topped by a smoking hot salsa.

Cities aside, Texas has changed too much for me. Property taxes here are sinfully high. So much for the state lowering them as they claimed. That's yet to happen. I thought the lottery was supposed to help out with the school portion of the tax not being so high. Eight billion so far spent on the lottery. Where is it going -- and to whom?

The cold I can handle -- the stifling heat of Texas is getting old. The constant threat of termites, the price of water here is astronomical, car insurance is too high.

Kids playing outside here have to constantly watch out for stinging and biting critters: ticks, scorpions, rattlesnakes, black widow and brown recluse spiders.

I doubt very seriously the Dakotas have much in the way of dangerous critters unless you encounter the odd bear or mountain lion. Since I'm looking East River, I doubt either of those will be present.

[eskape]

Originally Posted by windtimber

Though you suggest you want to leave IT work, perhaps you should consider Mitchell? It has 3 large telecommunications companies which rely heavily on IT professionals. Of course, I-90 runs along the south edge of town...but as a previous poster said you have to understand traffic in SoDak. Mitchell is the 8th largest city in the state with a population of 15,000! 4 cars at a stop light is a big traffic snarl!

Thanks for the info, windtimber, but what worries me is simply outsourcing. More and more employers are sending IT jobs to India, Vietnam, and China. Former Eastern Block countries like Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary are now also jockying for these outsourced jobs. IT jobs are becoming unsafe anymore if you have any hope of retiring from one, or from the companies that provide them. Telcos are great to work for, but they get bought and sold (consolidated) too far often for my liking. I've worked for a couple, and they are always infighting for money and power amongst the subsideraries, etc.

I want a career that CANNOT be outsourced -- HVAC, plumber, electrician, assembly of some kind. These are the jobs that will always be secure from what I'm reading. And it makes sense, actually. You cannot outsource jobs that require proximity.

The only IT jobs that are somewhat secure are state and federal IT jobs, but this, too, is changing. There are many states that have outsourced significant portions of IT to India. I know they save money, but to do so at the expense of Americans and American jobs is sinful in my book.

I appreciate your info very much, though. It's nice to know there are still places hiring for IT jobs that may stay here. I have to be careful, though. Moving ones family to a new state and then potentially losing one's job would be rough.

[sugarbeet]

I was born in Aberdeen - it's a very nice small city. You might also want to consider Brookings. Understand, as others have mentioned, that there is virtually no traffic in South Dakota. Being a quick drive to the interstate is something most people see as a benefit. Watertown is also a nice small city. Please visit some South Dakota cities and see how they feel to you.

As others have said, unemployment is low and jobs are plentiful, but it all depends on the type of job you want and the salary you need. You may have the best luck with an IT job, since as far as reinventing your career in a field in which you have no degree, you will be looking at a service job or manufacturing.

Maybe you want to look for jobs and then choose your city based on that. I think to someone coming from another state, Aberdeen, Brookings, Watertown will feel very similar. Huron feels different than those other towns, I think. The population is quite a bit lower and I don't find that they have as many stores and services there.

[eskape]

Originally Posted by sugarbeet

I was born in Aberdeen - it's a very nice small city. You might also want to consider Brookings. Understand, as others have mentioned, that there is virtually no traffic in South Dakota. Being a quick drive to the interstate is something most people see as a benefit. Watertown is also a nice small city. Please visit some South Dakota cities and see how they feel to you.

Thanks, sugarbeet. It's nice to see more and more info. I'll look into those other cities as well.

A lot of guys like me, despite having IT degrees, give IT up for service jobs. Lower salary, yes. More time with family, though, and that's what matters.

IT jobs demand a lot of you, what with on-call rotations, servers crashing, having to carry extra cell phones around, the endless mind-numbing, spirit-crushing meetings, the ever-looming possibility your job could be sent to India.

South Dakota is attractive to me for several reasons:

- Safer for kids
- No state tax
- Friendly people with good family morals
- Less expensive property tax
- Jobs seem to be plentiful
- No critters to contend with

Did I miss anything?

[sugarbeet]

Originally Posted by eskape

South Dakota is attractive to me for several reasons:

- Safer for kids
- No state tax
- Friendly people with good family morals
- Less expensive property tax
- Jobs seem to be plentiful
- No critters to contend with

Did I miss anything?

I think that's a great list. South Dakota is a wonderful place to live and I'm always happy to see that people from other states think so too!

I will add to your list:

- Fun outdoor activities year round
- Affordable (and very good!) state universities
- Feeling that you can be as involved in anything (e.g., goverment, schools, community) as you want to be
- Easy and inexpensive to do things like belong to a golf club or own a lake cabin, if those interest you

I have to say, though, that nowhere is perfect. You mention low property taxes, but many in SD complain about how high their taxes are. And any place that collects less taxes (e.g., state income) either gets it from you in another way or doesn't have as much for things like roads, schools, services. It's all a trade off.

Also, while you will find many "friendly people with good family morals," not everyone will fit that mold.

I'm also not sure I would say jobs are "plentiful," but, again, it all depends on what you're willing to do to earn a buck. I was thinking about what people I know do for a living (and make decent money):
Electrician (you mentioned)
Construction
University (both professors and non-teaching - office, food service)
Bank call center
Dental hygenist
Loan officer
Technical writing
Sales (product and manufacturing)
Health care

[eskape]

sugarbeet,

Thanks for the info; I appreciate it.

You're right. No place is perfect. There are things I like about Texas, but there are more things that I don't, so to stay here really makes not a lot of sense in the long run.

I think moving to a smaller city and having a stable job is what matters to me at the moment. Others in the household just want to be able to make snowmen (kids -- they've got it so easy).

Texas in my area has two seasons: hot and cold. There is no gradual let off like in the Dakotas. In the Dakotas, you get a nice hot summer, a milder fall, and a cold winter, a nice thawing to warm springtime. Here you get a hot summer from April - October. If you're lucky, Novemeber and December will be in the 60s, but usually still in the 80s, and then cold for a couple of months. Rather, rinse, repeat.

People are usually friendly everywhere you go, but there are exceptions. I'm nice to everyone unless given a real reason not to be.

We go to church, fishing, hunting, picnics -- the usual family stuff.

Texas is the Bible belt. What is the church scene like up in the Dakotas if I may ask?

[sugarbeet]

Originally Posted by eskape

Texas is the Bible belt. What is the church scene like up in the Dakotas if I may ask?

Other may have different thoughts on this, but having lived in another part of the "bible belt" myself (Jacksonville, FL), South Dakota is very different. I'd say people in this part of the country are more likely to belong to the church of "be kind to others and mind your own business."

Most people I know in South Dakota go to church every week or almost every week, but are not "in your face" about religion at all. And if someone doesn't go to church, no one cares (or seems to care). You are not judged as being a good or bad person based on your church attendance. Or religious beliefs, for that matter. Most people in South Dakota are some form of Protestant (most often Lutheran) or Catholic. Those of other faiths are widely accepted, but it may be more difficult to find a church/synagogue/mosque to fit your needs. Even mainline Protestant churches like Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian are not too common in the small towns, but you will find most in the cities you're considering.

I do have to mention that there are some undercurrents of tension between the different religions, but I think you have to live here your whole life in one of the small towns (waaay smaller than Aberdeen) to see it. Well, you might see a smidge of it in Aberdeen between the kids who go to Roncalli (catholic school) and public. But I think that has little do with religion and is mostly a public/private thing. Most people don't have any interest in that debate, though.