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Ya, Sioux Falls is your best choice. Lots of rural areas to choose from for a SHORT drive to the city as well.
I wouldn't recommend Kansas unless you like tons of heat and humidity.
FArgo has jobs, a lousy climate unless you like cold winters, but has great fishing in lots of lakes close by in Minnesota ( remember it is on the border) and is close to the pheasant hunting in eastern SD. But cost of living is reasonable and jobs abound. Very low unemployment - growing rapidly and may be the city that would have positions available in your fields. But time for you to start the job hunt and that is where life will take you at first.
I have lived in Kansas and am now living in South Dakota. North Dakota is too cold for me to even consider. Did you forget Nebraska? Lincoln is a great town with a major state university and several private universities. Omaha is nice, too, and it has a mid-sized state university and a couple of private schools. So if you are thinking of graduate school, something to consider.
Sioux Falls, SD is a very nice city that is growing (still less than 200,000 people) but is building a new events center to host concerts, etc. The local hospitals are in a hiring mode, so if either you or your spouse are in the health field that is a plus. Winters are generally cold and long, but less so that ND. The summers are gorgeous. SD's unemployment rate is third lowest in the nation.
Kansas is the windiest place I have ever lived, even windier than SD. It does have much warmer winters than SD. The summers are humid, but maybe not as humid as Florida.
I would look for work in all the above mentioned places that meet your requirements, and then go where the work is.
Sioux Falls is a bit of a banking hub. With your degrees I would think that would be a great option.
Head a bit north of Sioux Falls (and east in to MN) and you will find some amazing lakes.
Black Hills IMO have more to offer in regards to recreation though.
There are great opportunities in ND as others have mentioned, but from what I understand the crime is higher than it used to be in the areas heavily affected by the oil boom.
I have never been to Kansas - so I will leave that to others.
I have lived in Kansas as well as the Nebraska/South Dakota areas among other places. Kansas has been one of the fastest growing midwest states for a number of reasons. The winters are fairly mild and it gets plenty of sunshine. There are places in all three states that have solid, growing economies.
Someone else mentioned Johnson County, KS (suburban Kansas City) and I would agree that it's a great place to live. Schools are very good. There are lots of major employers. Entertainment from major league sports to world class music to casino gambling are just a few minutes away. There are plenty of great places to eat. Medical care services are top notch. Major interstate highways (70, 35, and 29) allow for easy access along with Amtrak stations and an International Airport with lower fares than most places in the country.
Ah yes, how I miss it. I can't complain about my current location, but as Dorothy said...there's no place like Kansas.
I've lived in all three states as well as the forgotten Nebraska.
I would think you're looking at cities, rather than states. If you're a pheasant hunter, Sioux Falls is probably your best bet, or even Sioux City, IA (in the corner by Nebraska and SD), as well as Omaha or Lincoln.
... When I lived in Kansas it snowed one time. About an inch. My boss called me all in a panick saying, "Don't try to get to work, it's much too dangerous." I thought, "Huh???"...
I was born and raised in NE Kansas, and I can remember many times having to tunnel under the snow for nearly a mile just to get to school. Yup, uphill. Both ways.
Seriously, we had lots of snow there. It was certainly milder than the Dakotas, but we had plenty of winter. No pheasants back then, only quail, but I think they now have pheasants.
My family moved to western Iowa, just east of Omaha in my early teens. Lots of pheasants there, then and now. Winters are slightly longer and colder than those in Kansas, as you'd expect.
And I've lived just past the Black Hills west of Rapid City for nearly 40 years. It has colder winters than Kansas but nicer summers. The low humidity makes summers and winters more comfortable.
I spent a winter in Mitchell (just west of Sioux Falls). Oh brrrrrrr! It's a pretty farming area and in the heart of the best pheasant hunting anywhere, but damn! That was cold! I wouldn't judge a place's weather on one short stay (Jan - Jul), but since I've lived in Wyoming for the past 40+ years and had family and investments in Iowa most of those years, we've traveled through Mitchell and Sioux Falls consistently and normally noticed the winter temps in those areas to be noticeably colder than in the Omaha area and to "feel" colder than in Rapid City or NE Wyoming.
I've only passed through North Dakota a few times, but they're booming so badly in the west that I wouldn't want to move there now. There's just not enough infrastructure in the boom towns to support the needed manpower. It could be exciting if you want a taste of the wild, wild west, and you could make some serious income, but I'd advise against it. Eastern ND would be a different story but I don't know enough about it to comment -- except to say it does get cold.
My guess is you'd like Rapid City the best, followed by NE Kansas. The Black Hills are nice. They get a bit too much tourism in the summer, but you can learn to avoid the touristy areas when you want to. At worst, there's great pheasant hunting a few hours away in the Chamberlain area. And you might learn to enjoy turkey hunting... or bigger game (tons of whitetails).
Fargo is a nice area. They have thought ahead on infrastructure compared to Sioux Falls. The metro area is about the same as the Sioux Falls metro area. They get more snow and is colder but them and Sioux Falls are pretty similar. Fargo, however, is much cleaner overall than Sioux Falls downtown. They have problems with flooding almost every year it seems but otherwise Sioux Falls and Fargo are pretty close to one another.
I have lived in Kansas as well as the Nebraska/South Dakota areas among other places. Kansas has been one of the fastest growing midwest states for a number of reasons. The winters are fairly mild and it gets plenty of sunshine. There are places in all three states that have solid, growing economies.
Someone else mentioned Johnson County, KS (suburban Kansas City) and I would agree that it's a great place to live. Schools are very good. There are lots of major employers. Entertainment from major league sports to world class music to casino gambling are just a few minutes away. There are plenty of great places to eat. Medical care services are top notch. Major interstate highways (70, 35, and 29) allow for easy access along with Amtrak stations and an International Airport with lower fares than most places in the country.
Ah yes, how I miss it. I can't complain about my current location, but as Dorothy said...there's no place like Kansas.
State level population change 2000-2010
South Dakota +7.9%
Minnesota +7.8%
Missouri +7.0%
Nebraska +6.7%
Indiana +6.6%
Kansas +6.1%
Wisconsin +6.0%
North Dakota +4.7%
Iowa +4.1%
Illinois +3.3%
Ohio +1.6%
Michigan -0.6%
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