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Well, I'm here in Sioux Falls, found a great job (in three months of looking), got a nice little place to call my own, and survived my first winter and enjoying the last bit of summer before fall hits.
Wow....Sioux Falls has blown my expectations out of the water. Coming from dusty hot, concrete Phoenix I was amazed. Sioux Falls is beautiful, clean, well kept, and green...oh my god..so green...well except in winter then it's white....and er brownish on the sides of roadways.
I have had sufficient time to visit Newton Hills, Big Sioux Recreation Area, Lake Alvin Recreation Area and the surrounding parks in Sioux falls..and man there are a lot. Not much in the way of mountains here, but what it lacks in terrain it makes up for in green. If I remember I'll come back and post some pics of some beautiful hiking I did at Newton Hills.
So following is a summary of my experiences as a new resident of Sioux Falls transplanted from big city living like Phoenix
Restaurants: AWESOME! Clean, diverse variety, and way too much fast food joints
Gyms: Clean, a lot of choices
Parks: Frisbee golf, soccer fields, volleyball, river bike paths, you name it..the parks here are gorgeous
Big Sioux River: Nice to look at..don't think I'd swim in it or eat fish caught in it..too much agricultural fertilizer and manure runoff in it. People do Kayak it though...so it can't be too bad
Winters: Cold...not kidding...very cold..wind is what it's all about..the wind makes or breaks a winter day...I did some running in the winter and it wasn't bad if it wasn't windy. Driving... slow down..I am getting by with a two wheel drive truck and 2 70lb sand bags in the back.
Apartments: I rented a gorgeous place with a nice view of trees and greenery and close to the Empire Mall area...one recommendation I would make to anyone coming here...rent away from the mall area if you like quiet..anywhere around the mall you'll hear the traffic from the I29
Housing: Gorgeous developments everywhere...east west south and north sides of Sioux Falls...it amazes me how much construction there is still going on with the housing market being in the tank right now.
Biking: not much for Mountain Biking...single track around here...Leaders Park has a trail that is not complete, but rideable, and Newton Hills has the best single track I've seen close by so far, but you can definitely get some nice path riding in at all the parks along the river
Doctors...Sanford and Avera...need I say more..ok I will...two giant healthcare networks service this and surrounding areas, they are dominate features of the Sioux Falls area.
Road Condtions: as nice as can be in such a diverse weather climate...the winters tear up the streets, but from what I can see the City does a decent job of maintaining them during the winter break seasons.
Single in Sioux Falls? If you're a drinker..there are fair amount of drinking establishments around town..clean, upbeat and modern...not dark dingy watering holes. So far, my observation is this..if you're not religious and involved in a church or don't frequent the bar scene...good luck. Sioux Falls is a great city to raise a family but not so great for the single and looking for...well whatever. I haven't checked out online dating yet...not sure if I will. If you think you'll meet someone in the park..think twice...lots of mom's with kids in strollers and people closed off to others with earbuds in and focused on their workouts. The few people I've managed to engage in conversation were friendly but I got a sense they thought I (a single guy by himself) was stranger danger.
So..there it is..my personal observations of Sioux Falls...there are jobs here, there is green here, there is new development and growth, this city has potential
I would call your rendition of Sioux Falls a very accurate depiction of the place.
One nice thing about the city is it's within easy driving distance of great recreation areas for fishing (northeast SD, the Missouri River) and general water fun (Missouri River and the Iowa Great Lakes).
If you feel the need for a shot of big time entertainment, the Twin Cities are less than 4 hours away.
As anyone that's lived here for more than 4 years can attest, at this time of year we're normally not even close to as "green" as we have been lately. The last couple of summers have been very unusual as to the amount of moisture. The winters have been quite normal, however.
I'm glad you're finding Sioux Falls to your liking.
Thanks for sharing your experience Dakotan! I'm moving out there next summer, so it was nice to hear about someone else's experience with moving there from another state.
I am a relatively recent transplant to the area as well. Your assessment is fairly close to mine.
The first thing I noticed is that it is awfully darned nice in the spring and summer. It's not the blast furnace combined with a humidifier of the Lower Midwest, nor are there 80 million mosquitoes like the Great Lakes states. I like it! The second thing I noticed is that there are almost no trees. I've never lived anywhere without a fair amount of wooded land, so having no trees is odd. The third thing I noticed is that people can legally ride four-wheelers on the streets and there are no helmet laws, so very few wear them.
Roads: the high speed limits are nice, but the roads themselves are pretty poor. Potholes and frost heaves are everywhere, so you might not want to actually go 65 on the highway or 75 on the interstate. Literally a third of all of the roads are closed at any one point during the summer.
Cost of living: no state income tax and no property taxes on cars in the SF region is very nice. The sales tax is also considerably lower than in many other areas.
Single in Sioux Falls? Your assessment is spot-on! It's a good place for the married to raise a family, and that's what everybody there is and does. If you are single and have any kind of a career, you must have moved in from somewhere else or be 21 or under. It seems nearly everybody with a college degree marries right when they graduate college and then have kids shortly thereafter. Most people seem to have one or two kids by the time they are 25. Being married and not having kids there is hard, since all of the people with kids (especially the women) talk about little else and always want time off to spend with their kids- and that time has to come from their childless co-workers for the most part. Being single is even worse, since there is not much of a pool of decent people to date. Sure, you have your people who are not "marriage material" that are single (and generally with at least four kids if they are over 25), but there is a distinct lack of people who do want to be married and would be decent to marry but want to wait until they are a little bit older to do it.
Thanks for sharing everyone.. it's fun to see how others new to the state view it.
I do have a couple questions though. SweetRay, where do you live that there are no trees?? Or are you saying less trees than what you're used to??
Also wondering from all commenters about the single life. I always hear that from people and it's true to a large degree, if you don't go to bars it's hard to meet (unless it's through work or volunteering or something on that order).
Tell me the secret of the bigger cities, where do people meet there besides bars? I've always wondered that when people make that observation about South Dakota, but when I think of bigger cities all I can envision is the opera or something! Haha So please reassure me that it's not the (yawn) opera. I want to live in a bigger city, so I need to know!
Thanks for sharing everyone.. it's fun to see how others new to the state view it.
I do have a couple questions though. SweetRay, where do you live that there are no trees?? Or are you saying less trees than what you're used to??
I live around the Sioux Falls area. There are some trees, but a lot fewer than where I came from.
Quote:
Also wondering from all commenters about the single life. I always hear that from people and it's true to a large degree, if you don't go to bars it's hard to meet (unless it's through work or volunteering or something on that order).
Tell me the secret of the bigger cities, where do people meet there besides bars? I've always wondered that when people make that observation about South Dakota, but when I think of bigger cities all I can envision is the opera or something! Haha So please reassure me that it's not the (yawn) opera. I want to live in a bigger city, so I need to know!
I don't know the secret of meeting people in a bigger city as I've never lived in a big city. I met my wife at work, which I can imagine can happen anywhere.
Having lived in Phoenix for over 30 years, my experience is that there are just more people that are single, aside from my ex wife whom I met in highschool, every woman I dated throughout my adult life I met at parks, the gym, one from a bar (didn't go well), and one was a neighbor.
Plus in a city like Phoenix, you have more days of outdoor activity so more people are doing things out where they can be met, hiking trails, parks, bowling, skating, tubing the Salt River
In smaller towns, you have less single people around so...it's harder to meet them. It really boils down to population density.
You're right where you met singles isn't much different than in a small town, but you're chances of meeting someone single are higher in a higher population center
Having lived in Phoenix for over 30 years, my experience is that there are just more people that are single, aside from my ex wife whom I met in highschool, every woman I dated throughout my adult life I met at parks, the gym, one from a bar (didn't go well), and one was a neighbor.
Plus in a city like Phoenix, you have more days of outdoor activity so more people are doing things out where they can be met, hiking trails, parks, bowling, skating, tubing the Salt River
In smaller towns, you have less single people around so...it's harder to meet them. It really boils down to population density.
You're right where you met singles isn't much different than in a small town, but you're chances of meeting someone single are higher in a higher population center
Hey Dakotan_returns,
I think I am in the same boat as you with age and looking at the dating scene. My problem is deciding between S.F. and Fargo. I am close to finalizing my job offer and have the option of living in either SD or ND as I will be traveling both states. It looks like SF has a larger pop. base than Fargo so it should increase my chances of finding a nice lady.
Which area did you choose to live? I have been looking at the downtown area thinking it would be easier to walk to restaurants, pubs etc.
In regards to meeting people in AZ it is easier. I use to live by oldtown Scottsdale and between the bars, greenways and in general outside activities it was easy to meet someone but again I was younger and most women were not married. It seems really tough after 38 to meet quality single ladies.
If you had to recommend an area in SF for a single guy to live (renting at first) where would you?
I would like something were walking to restaurants, bars, outdoor/street fairs...just general fun activities.
I'm from around the Seattle area (not in, but around) and my experience anyways is that it's hard to meet people here. I can start a conversation or vice versa, but it never really goes any where past that. I also don't go to bars or clubs anymore and honestly when a guy finds out I have a kid, they kinda cut ya off. I did read an article a couple years ago that my city is one of the hardest in the country to meet new friends. Everyone sticks to the people they already know and aren't too welcoming of having new friends come in their social group.
I have been to Sioux Falls and some surrounding areas, and I met more nice people there than I have here and I've been here all my life. Lol. I think it's just that mid-western hospitality, not sure but that's my opinion anyways.
But I'm planning on moving out there next year and it might be hard for me to get some good friends and maybe hard to meet someone new, but at least I never got many cold shoulders there as I do in my own state.
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