Mother of 3 wants to move from Texas to South Dakota. (Sioux Falls: find a job, high school)
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I am a single mother of 3 and I want to move to South Dakota in a few months. I want a small town but I dont want to completely desert the boys in the middle of nowhere. I am 25 years old and my boys are all under the age 8. I am a veterinarian technician and I have 5 years experience. Anyone have any suggestions? I do understand the weather is extreme at times and I am looking forward to it.
Watertown is a great place to live for growing families. There is no college and the people in town support the high school in all activities. The children have a chance to know their teachers, counselors and principals while also experiencing social support from each other. There are fewer distrations in Watertown.
First of all, you need to know that wages are very low here. A lot of people work two jobs just to make ends meet. You talk like you're a single mom, and seriously as a young with three kids, SD would be the last place I would move to. SD has the one of the highest rates of single moms working and working more than one job just to get by. The politics are not family friendly in SD. The gov't leans way to the right and this yr they plan on cutting thousands of people from the medicaid program and making a 10% cut in education.
Just telling some hard reality advice for you.
Keep in mind the two sides of the state are two different climates... watertown/brookings much colder and snowier... go west even a bit and it warms up... rapid is just downright beautiful the next week or so. You can really see the difference looking right now at a forecast, except the whole state is above normal. Just take off 15-20 degrees to get statewide average temps for any given area. Granted 35-40 seems beautiful in Brookings after all these days of being under zero. Mitchell always seems to get the best storms and is kind of the buffer zone where you still get reliable precip and yet it's a bit warmer outside in the winter.
You're more likely to find higher paying work in Sioux Falls though. Otherwise poster above is right, wages here are fairly low. But there are jobs. That's more then you can say for some areas, actually, MOST areas. You think SD jobs are bad, wages in Florida for unskilled labor, if you can even find a job, are pitiful. It could be worse for sure.. like anywhere in the south/SE. I'd be more inclined to pick somewhere like Rochester MN even with the state income taxes, or western or central WI myself. Higher wages, assuming you can find work that is.
However if I had a specialized skill, such as a teacher or pharmacist, no way I'd be living here. The sky would be the limit then I suppose. lol.
Given the choice I'd try to find a job in Rapid first, because it really is a beautiful fairly nice area to live. I'm stuck in Brookings because I don't want to quit my job making medical products.
Watertown is a great place to live for growing families. There is no college and the people in town support the high school in all activities. The children have a chance to know their teachers, counselors and principals while also experiencing social support from each other. There are fewer distrations in Watertown.
Watertown really is a wonderful community. I particularly love the bike path that goes around the lake... oh and all the lakes that are nearby just to the west. Like the downtown area, city seems to have good traffic flow. It's just cold that's all. Brookings isn't bad either. From there you can drive to watertown or sioux falls in an hour or less. Plus the swiftel center brings good bands from time to time.
Being a vet tech, you're going to need to go where the job is in that area, which may be harder to find around here. www.sdjobs.org is the state job website. Really, any town in South Dakota with a population to your liking are nice towns. I agree with what was said about the medicaid and school funding cuts right now being an issue. If those cuts go through, our state is going to be in a serious mess
Exactly. My decision is informed. I knew I'd be taking a pay cut, and I was realistic about what I could actually live on. Like anything in life, there are tradeoffs. If I didn't think it was worth it, I wouldn't be doing it.
As for the rest, that's life. You either cut the budget or raise taxes. Either way, someone's going to pay for it. I don't see how expanding Medicaid programs is going to be good for the state. It may be good for the people abusing it and getting freebies, but it's not good for the people actually paying for it. And I should probably just leave it at that.
Last edited by ElkHunter; 02-13-2011 at 08:14 AM..
Reason: Removed orphaned quote
Sioux Falls is an expensive place to live, and so is Pierre SD. I lived in both places, rents are high and so are the cost of groceries, and the price of gas. Really, if people would just realize it's expensive to live anywhere these days unless you live in a dinky village in the middle of nowhere where there's no economic infrastructure.
I wasn't asserting that SD is a backward place to live nor was I implying the single mom would need state help. With three kids to feed and a vet tech degree, she would probably have to work two jobs to make ends meet b/c of the fact that wages are low and there is no spouse to bring in a second income.
I am a single mother of 3 and I want to move to South Dakota in a few months. I want a small town but I dont want to completely desert the boys in the middle of nowhere. I am 25 years old and my boys are all under the age 8. I am a veterinarian technician and I have 5 years experience. Anyone have any suggestions? I do understand the weather is extreme at times and I am looking forward to it.
I moved here from san marcos texas 2 years ago and have no regets at all.Yep the winters get a little cold sometimes.But the spring and summer and fall are awesome.If you find getting a job there is easy it will be a cake walk here. Thats just my thought on this.good luck and let me know how else I can help.But for me SD4020 is the best one for help here in Rapid city.
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The sky would be the limit then I suppose. lol.
