A Few Questions..... (Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Yankton: real estate, sex offenders, low crime)

[Wicked Felina]

I am looking to move to a place where I would like to retire, although I still need to work. I am single, female, in my mid-50's (!). No family, but a sister and brother-in-law who live in a nearby state (I am in the northwest). Holy cow, I was struck by how nice you people are to each other! What a difference from other forums on city-data. It's a pleasure to read your posts.

Yankton seems like a wonderful place - at least on paper, and I have lived all over the country. Never lived in -30 weather as an adult, but that wouldn't make me hesitate to move there.

Are there many possibilities for work? Any ideas from the locals as to what might be available? I was in law enforcement for many years, but really would not like to continue that. (I've never had a desk job, and it would pretty much do me in if I had to be stuck at a desk for hours on end!).

Anyway, it's good to read posts from nice, polite people! Thank you!

[Jammie]

Hi SeeBee and welcome to the forum. We locals will take all the compliments we can get.

I couldn't tell you specifically about law enforcement jobs in Yankton, but there are often towns who are looking for officers. I'm just wondering if the State Hospital in Yankton has any security. Maybe someone will know.

There's also Springfield which has the minimum security prison and it's not too far from Yankton.

Sioux Falls has the penitentiary. The counties generally have a jail, too and right now there are three ads in our local paper looking for jail guards.

Yankton is a nice town and it was our first capital. Their beach is pretty cool, too.

[Chris19]

I would like to agree with Jammie. I would like to add that Yankton is near Vermillion, which has speakers and cultural activities (plays, concerts, etc.) associated with University of South Dakota. Yankton is a city of about 15,000 and has a very nice Wal-Mart, Hy-Vee, and K-Mart along with a array of eating options for a larger town. The town has a lot of trees within it. It is in a handy location when travelling south or east.

[SoDak11]

Jammie, she said that she would NOT want to be in law enforcement again.

SeeBe, perhaps a little more info on what you are looking for would help us help you. Are you looking for a higher paying career type job, or just a lower paying stress free job, like a cashier at any random store?

Is there anything specific on paper that's drawing you to Yankton? If not, there are plenty of other nice towns in South Dakota that are just as wonderful as Yankton.

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by SoDak11

Jammie, she said that she would NOT want to be in law enforcement again.

SeeBe, perhaps a little more info on what you are looking for would help us help you. Are you looking for a higher paying career type job, or just a lower paying stress free job, like a cashier at any random store?

Is there anything specific on paper that's drawing you to Yankton? If not, there are plenty of other nice towns in South Dakota that are just as wonderful as Yankton.

SoDak, thank you for correcting me. Sorry that I missed that so some of my info is irrelevant.

[Wicked Felina]

Hello, and thanks for responding. SoDak11 - you're correct! I am looking for a lower-stress job (and thereby, I'm sure, lower paying!), and am open to just about anything (not in a meat processing plant, though - I'm a vegetarian! I thought there was such a plant in Yankton. ??) Just need to make a living wage. It's much more important for me at this stage of my life to enjoy where I work, and the people I work with.

I was impressed with Yankton for several reasons: It's a small city, but has access to quality higher education; it appears clean, and has good city services. There are academically good schools, and several churches. I saw several houses on a realtor's website that were nice, but older, around 100K, Houses that in my area would cost 400-500K, easily. Way over what I could ever afford. Also, I no longer want to live in a large city (1+ million).

The extraordinarily low crime rate did not escape my attention . AND, I would love a place with a "real winter." Any suggestions as to other small cities in SD, where one could have access to higher education, live theatre & music? Driving a few hours is not a problem. (I majored in Liberal Ats/Theatre Arts in college in NYC - so I've had my fill of large cities!).

Jammie, your comments were not irrelevant to me. I will have time this summer to visit there, but not for very long. So any bits of information are useful, and help me to build an accurate 'lay of the land.'

I appeciate all of your comments and input!

[Jammie]

Alright SeeBee, a fellow vegetarian!! We're far and few between in the Midwest.

I'm really not sure what's available in Yankton for employment. It's been several years since we were even down there. You could check out the Yankton Press and Dakotan. That's their newspaper. Their current unemployment rate is 3% so they should have available employment.

Yankton Press & Dakotan



If you search around and find any other cities that you're interested in, maybe it'll be one that we could help you with.

Yankton, South Dakota (SD) Detailed Profile - relocation, real estate, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, news, sex offenders

[Wicked Felina]

Holy cow, that was fast! I'm stilly trying to forage my way around posting things here!

[MJ1986]

Thanks See-Bee for the compliments. I'm not familiar with Yankton myself...but it seems like a decent town. It is right next to Missouri River, with plenty of river/water activities. I live in Sioux Falls, population approximately 145,000. The area around McKennan Park has some beautiful, older houses. If you're looking for something smaller, Rapid City might appeal to you...the scenery is beautiful out there. Sorry I can't you out more about Yankton!

[traveler73]

SeeBee, since you are in the NW you probably like land features and trees. Sioux Falls and most of eastern SD is a flat as a board with no inspiring land features and it seems that most of the trees were planted by man. It's always windy year round and bitterly cold in winter, more on that later. The economy is good in Sioux Falls and there are plenty of jobs. But a person can get a job anywhere, right? Cost of living is more reasonable compared to the Pacific NW.

Yankton has a little more scenery than Sioux Falls and they have the Missouri River which is popular in summertime. But it's a smaller town and you need to travel over an hour to get to Sioux Falls or Sioux City, IA, the next 2 largest cities. Overall though Yankton is nice.

I used to live in Sioux Falls, now I live in Rapid City. The Black Hills area is SD at its best. The Hills offer great scenery with plenty of trees, lots of things to do with good jobs. We have Mt Rushmore, the Sturgis Bike Rally, Custer State Park and the Crazy Horse National Monument. Plus there are many smaller towns around like Spearfish, Sturgis, Hill City, Custer, Lead, Deadwood and Keystone that are very nice. Many people from all over the country come here to retire. The Black Hills are the number one tourist destination in the Dakotas.

As far as climate in the Hills, it's much like Denver. It gets below zero from time to time, but it never hits -30. Then 2 days later it will be back into the 50s. In Rapid City snow doesn't stick around all winter long. In other areas of SD like Yankton and Sioux Falls, it can get to -30 and stay below zero for days at a time, I mean the high temp is below zero! And the snow will pile up and stick around all winter long.

In the Hills to me a windy day is considered 20mph or higher. However there are some days were winds will blow over 40 mph, but that is rare. The majority of days the wind is very calm, 10 mph or less. In eastern South Dakota in Sioux Falls it's very windy most everyday. That's great if you like to fly kites! A day with 10 mph winds is very rare. Wind in the winter that means wind chills that can dip to -50 or colder on a regular basis. I remember living in SF one winter and the air temp was -32 and -73 with wind chill. It gets so cold that people need to plug in their cars so the engine block won't freeze. You haven't experienced cold until you have spent a winter in Sioux Falls.

Good luck in your search!