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South Dakota is a great place to live... it's mainly rural..West of the Missouri River is very scenic...east of the Missouri, there is more population...
Raising children here is second to none... smaller schools... except for the booming areas around Sioux Falls... they have multiple schools in the works to be built. But even in SF, where I live, the school district is excellent. It's a main reason why people want to move here. The economy is doing much better than the rest of the nation. Jobs are being added in the bigger cities like Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and Aberdeen...
Foreclosures are low here...
We have a very low crime rate and haven't been hit by the near recession~at least not yet.
We have full time permanent jobs for anyone who wants to work. In many places of employment, benies start at day one so if you ever need to switch jobs, you don't generally have a health insurance lapse. Most employers are fair and don't "use" their employees, but it is a right to work state.
The population of our entire state is in the area of 750,000 people so there are still a lot of wide open spaces. Our air quality is excellent~no pollution and our streams and lakes are clear.
We don't have a state income tax or a personal property tax. The rate of our real estate tax seems high~generally around $20 per $1,000, but a house that you may pay $300,000 for in many areas of the country isn't half that much here.
We definitely have all four seasons and our summers can get hot. (which I personally love) The winters in eastern So. Dak. are generally colder then they are out in the Black Hills area. We also have a lot of wind here so we have a lot of turbines springing up to harness the wind.
Our state is very clean and there are beautiful areas like the Badlands and the Black Hills.
Ditto to all the above.
Just take a look around the South Dakota forum and see if you like it. If you have any questions, there's plenty of us here to help you!
Depends what your interests are. I live in Sioux Falls at the moment but have lived in major metropolitan cities such as New York City, San Fransisco, D.C. and abroad since I actually grew up in Europe. If you are looking for a hip and vibrant lifestyle with great art, food, music and a strong bohemian scene this is definetly not the place. SD is rural, religious, conservative, quiet and safe. Sioux Falls is by no means a city but a large town with modest touches of city life but still quite generic and bland. I would say that this is an excellent place to raise a child due to the safety and the natural environment and the education system is good but by no means excellent. This is a very low-key affair with a simpler way of life but if you are attracted to the beauty and solitude of the outdoors and the simple way of life, this my friend, is definetly the place.
South Dakota is a mainly rural area. There is variety also. The northeastern part of South Dakota is like Minnesota to some extent with the lakes and gently rolling hills, while the southeastern part is similar to Iowa with the farms and small towns. The western parts are like Wyoming and Montana with the open spaces and the Black Hills as a micro version of the Rockies (not as tall).
Sioux Falls may not be as Bohemian as San Fransisco, NYC, and Paris, but it is developing a character of its own and will continue to do so over time. The city has a suburban feel in 2/3rds of the city but has areas where there are old houses with character, a small but growing arts and entertainment scene, and an up-and-coming downtown with even more potential (especially when the Phillips to the Falls development continues). It is by and large a friendly community that is safe, clean, and affordable. One gets the four seasons in Sioux Falls and in most of South Dakota, which there is variety (which has its benefits and drawbacks).
West River has its open country along with the Badlands and Black Hills, which are beautiful, along with a drier and milder climate (Midwest standards). But East River is beautiful with its lakes and rivers and greenery in the summer and has a more humid climate than West River (East River not as humid as Missouri and even the Gulf Coast). I personally like East River with its greenery and the tall corn looks nice in August, although I wish it had a few more trees like Missouri and Wisconsin.
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The winters in eastern So. Dak. are generally colder then they are out in the Black Hills area. We also have a lot of wind here so we have a lot of turbines springing up to harness the wind.
