Future College Graduate Interested in Taking a Job in South Dakota (Sioux Falls: real estate, house)

[jmmcnally]

Hi,

I am a college student, who is about to be married and adopt a 2 year old. I am majoring in wildlife management to get my certification as a wildlife bioligist. I want to work for the government and am interested in taking a job in South Dakota.

I just need to have a few questions answered.

1.) Is South Dakota a good place for a newly graduated student to take a job and live?
2.) What are the prices on property? Taxes?
3.) Is South Dakota a good place to raise a child?

Here are other states I am interested in moving to:
Alaska
Montana
New Mexico
Colorado
Nebraska
North Dakota
Wyoming
Utah


I really appreciate the help!

Jessica

P.S. We love the idea of mountain life and would prefer cooler summers. We are very tired of the heat here in Texas.

[BusySocialWorker]

I can say South Dakota is a wonderful place to raise your family - I grew up here and moved away to Denver for about 6 years to finish my graduate degree and had planned on staying there in the area - When we started our family, both my husband and I knew South Dakota was where we wanted our children to grow up

If you love the mountains - the west side of the state (maybe Rapid City) is as close as you will get - the hills are beautiful, and we love the climate here - I am a person who needs some change in seasons but I don't want extremes in cold - this is perfect for us - the kids love the change of seasons each year (and so do I)

[Jammie]

Ditto to what Busy said. I'd just like to add that real estate and property taxes are comparable to Texas. You probably already know that we don't have a state income tax either so real estate taxes run a bit above the $20 per 1,000 value. Also, like Texas~we have no personal property tax~boats, campers, tv, etc.

[ashnat]

I'll be answering Rapid City related.......

1.) Is South Dakota a good place for a newly graduated student to take a job and live?
Most jobs advertised are nursing and construction related. Of course there are jobs available that don't need advertised, but those two fields never have enough people.
Pay is low here, REALLY low

2.) What are the prices on property? Taxes?
Depends where you're coming from. But IMO property taxes are CHEAP. Born and raised residents disagree with me, but I moved here from a place that had a LOT higher property taxes. Lincoln/Omaha
On the other hand, the price of homes is very expensive. Almost double where I came from. We love not forking out $4000 a year in property taxes and $500 a year in licensing our cars.
3.) Is South Dakota a good place to raise a child?
It's a great place. But, check out the schools before you buy a home. Several in Rapid are not meeting NCLB, and we can never seem to meet our budgets here. Orchestra was almost completely cut, until they got a donation from a city council member not wanting that to happen. Teacher pay is HORRIBLE here. (I haven't checked recently, but we used to be 50th worst teacher pay state).
We have a funky grading system that was new last year. 1-4, 4 being the best score, 1 being the worst. And it's a gradual grading system, you can't get a 4 until 2nd or 3rd quarter. Getting a 4 means the child has learned everything they need to learn in that grade. We don't do spelling tests here, drives me nuts. The kids in my daughters class can't spell worth a darn and they're supposed to learn cursive this year. The reason I get is the darn COMPUTERS. They don't need to learn how to spell because of SPELL CHECK! I do spelling tests at home to help my kids. We don't plan on living here forever and I don't want my kids behind when we leave the state.
The area is beautiful. There are soccer leagues, flag football leagues, softball leagues, great outdoor and indoor swimming pools, a decent parks and recreation calendar of summer activities, tons of tourist things you can do. We don't have a zoo, but we have Old MacDonald farm for the little ones, and Bear Country. There's also a kangaroo place I haven't visited yet.

[DeadwoodJ]

I'm sorry, but ashnat if you hate south dakota so much why do you continue to live here, when I graduated High School I hated South Dakota as well and especially my town, but then I went to college in Minnesota for 5 years and my wife and I moved to Sioux Falls, I make almost $3 more per hour then I did in my college town (plus no income tax), and I worked full time my last year of school as well.

As far as No Child Left Behind, a vast majority of the teachers that I have talked to hate that program, they think it either needs to be fixed or eliminated completely.

And I don't know what sites you've been using but I seem to find alot of jobs that are advertised for the Black Hills, granted they're not as prominent as BIGGER cities for obvious reasons......

[blackhillsdreams]

Go find a job in Custer State Park and be happy. Email me a picture of the Buffalo now and then and you'll be my best friend for life!

South Dakota is the BEST. Proceed there immediately, do not stop until you get to Sylvan Lake.

[jmmcnally]

You guys all vary and it's kind of dissapointing, but I see where you are coming from. So no real mountains? That sucks, but I like the idea of lower taxes!

[tpabes]

Compared to the Rockies, yes the Black Hills don't compare (but remember you are a few hours away from the Rockies). But remember Harney Peak is the highest point east of the Rockies and you can do mountain activities in the hills. You can ski, hike etc.. Although the hills are higher in elevation I would say they are a little smaller than the Appalachians (as far as valley floor to mountain top), but they are more rockier than the Apps. That is my opinion, if it makes sense.

[ashnat]

Originally Posted by DeadwoodJ

I'm sorry, but ashnat if you hate south dakota so much why do you continue to live here, when I graduated High School I hated South Dakota as well and especially my town, but then I went to college in Minnesota for 5 years and my wife and I moved to Sioux Falls, I make almost $3 more per hour then I did in my college town (plus no income tax), and I worked full time my last year of school as well.

As far as No Child Left Behind, a vast majority of the teachers that I have talked to hate that program, they think it either needs to be fixed or eliminated completely.

And I don't know what sites you've been using but I seem to find alot of jobs that are advertised for the Black Hills, granted they're not as prominent as BIGGER cities for obvious reasons......

I never said I hated it here. There are positives and downfalls with everything. You can't argue with the education concerns of Rapid City. It is a HUGE problem that will put our future workforce at a disadvantage to the rest of America if it is not dealt with. If you want to sit back and say the school system is good here, you are in DENIAL!!! or don't know what you're talking about.

Sioux Falls, I LOVE Sioux Falls. My dh lived there in 99 and we married and bought a house in Vermillion (I was working in Sioux City and we both commuted). If you take a look, I've never had ANYTHING bad to say about the East side of SDakota.
If you compare the educational system of Sioux Falls to Rapid City, you will see HUGE advantages on the East side.

The jobs advertised, CAREER jobs, are nursing or construction related in the majority, that's all I said. HOW is that a negative thing to say about the community. That's just telling him what the area really needs and is always looking to hire.

Chill out.

[ashnat]

jmmcnally, my neighbor in my circle drive works for the forestry. They have a new building right here in Rapid City. He used to have to commute to Hill City every day, now he has a 10 minute drive. I can't quote an exact figure, and I have no idea what his job title is, but he makes around $50,000 a year and has had the job since 2002.