South or North? (Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Madison: low crime, unemployment rate, university)

[W-B proud]

What's the main differences between North and South Dakota?

[DannyBanany]

South Dakota has more people. The population here is about 800,000 while North Dakota is just shy of 650,000. The climate is warmer is SD too, and while North Dakota is entirely plains, South Dakota has hills and mountains in the western half of the state.

Sioux Falls and Rapid City are SD's largest cities with populations of 150,000 and 80,000. Fargo and Bismarck are ND's largest cities with populations of 90,000 and 50,000.

There are a ton of other comparisons and contrasts of these two states. I've personally never been to North Dakota though.

[MJ1986]

Agree with Danny...SD is more populated...
However...North Dakota isn't entirely plains...the western part of ND slightly resembles western SD... The area is more hilly, and ND also has a "badlands". Their claim to fame is Medora...which is a historical area... Theodore Roosevelt National Park is in that area too...
It's really a scenic area to drive through.
I grew up very close to the ND/SD border, and I've been to almost every part of ND, except for the northwestern part...
I think there are more similarities than differences...however, I've been to the North Dakota forum on this site, and the people do not seem as friendly as the people in the SD forum.

[Chris19]

It seems like South Dakota has the bigger towns for its two largest cities, but North Dakota has an edge on cities between 15,000 to 50,000. Souyth Dakota has an edge on cities between 5,000 and 15,000. South Dakota's smaller towns and county seats are generally more sizeable than North Dakota's. Other than West Fargo and Morehead, Fargo's bedroom/outlying communities do not stack up to Sioux Falls's.

South Dakota is more populated and has more growth areas (although concentrated along the I-29 corridor, Black Hills, and its larger trade centers). SD and ND had comparable populations (with SD being a little higher) until the past two decades were there is a bigger gap between the two states.

The accents are another issue. North Dakotans generally have a stronger northern accent than South Dakota. South Dakota is more or less at a crossroads. It seems as though (especially in East River) that those along and south of I-90 have a neutral accent similar to that of Nebraska and Iowa and those north (getting stronger further north one goes) sound more like Minnesotans and North Dakotans with the northern accent.

[Jammie]

There are a few differences in the states.

The similarities are that both states are fairly rural and have fairly low crime rates. Both states have extreme weather. We both have good meteorlogists like DaninEFG Both states have a very low unemployment rate. AND we both have the same last name.

[smitter]

We're not Yankees, we're from South Dakota.

[Chris19]

We South Dakotans and North Dakotans are one big happy family. Too bad, there were disagreements back in the 1880s that split Dakota into two different states.

[prairierose]

Originally Posted by Chris19

We South Dakotans and North Dakotans are one big happy family. Too bad, there were disagreements back in the 1880s that split Dakota into two different states.

An East-West split would have made more sense than a North-South split, but they didn't ask us!

[Chris19]

No, they had some sort of reason back in the 1880s. I question the logic of some decision-makers back in the late 1800s. I know that Sioux Falls made an odd decision around 100 years ago wanting the State Penn instead of a state university. Imagine what Sioux Falls would look like if it had a full-fledged state university. It would be its current size or a bit larger with more of a feel like Columbia, MO; Lawrence, KS; Lincoln, NE; Madison, WI; and other mid-sized college towns with lots of culture, arts, and nightlife. It is good now, but would be even better with a full-fledged state university as opposed to the State Penn.

[MJ1986]

Wow...interesting...I never knew that Sioux Falls actually had a decision between a university and a prison... Dumb decision