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It'll be best to get a feel for both areas as they are very different. I'm from the eastern side of the state and when I go to the Black Hills I sometimes feel like the only thing I have in common is a license plate.
The Black Hills has a military/biker/rancher/outdoorsy/rez vibe. I notice more evangelical churches there and more hippie-ish types. It's also tourist central and I never fail to have some jerk with IL/NV/CA/FL or somewhere else's plates riding my tail when driving around the hills. Outdoor/nature activities are plentiful and the climate is milder and drier. Hailstorms are common as is snowfall but it melts more quickly.
Sioux Falls & eastern SD has more of a small town/farmer/white collar/more Democrat/almost kind of a Minnesota-passive-aggressive thing going on. There's about one degree of separation between everyone. There are a lot more professional opportunities and health care options (and the state's lone Costco), but far fewer recreational options as land is almost all privately owned. It is greener and water is more plentiful but there is no natural forest. Humidity is only a concern for maybe 6-8 weeks in July/August and not every day. When it comes to Winter, I generally don't spend any more time outside than I absolutely have to from mid-November until mid-March. Snakes or tornadoes have never been a concern for us.
Hopefully you'll have some good property to sell in WA. Housing is tight in SD and prices are on the rise thanks to our ever-self-promoting governor. Average list price in Spearfish, for example, was up almost 40% from 2020 if realtor dot com was correct (https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...sh_SD/overview). You can bet your hiney property taxes will be going up, up, up soon.
The drive from Rapid to SF is easy, 4 hours at 80 MPH with little between. Should be no biggie unless there is some extremely rare freak September blizzard which is doubtful.
Thanks for the info CoteauKid. I think eastern SD winters would be the biggest adjustment for us. Where we're at now, we rarely have snow more than a handful of days each year, and it's rarely cold enough to keep us inside. Are roads plowed/maintained pretty well? Trying to imagine keeping our kid inside the house for four months out of the year, hah.
The pacific NW is very passive-aggressive, so that might not be a huge change, although SD still sounds friendlier than where we're at. I like the small town vibe, and sounds like Sioux Falls proper has a lot of bigger city amenities, so might be a great fit to live a bit on the outskirts and commute in as desired. Is Brandon the main "suburb" town close by?
You mentioned the east side leans more democrat. Is it more moderate democrat or swinging toward the progressive? I don't want to get too political, but we don't want to be moving someplace that defunds their police departments, subsidizes homelessness and drug use, decriminalizes theft and assault if you're on drugs or 'disadvantaged', mandates schools teach sex education to kindergartners, etc. A couple other posts on the this forum mention that crime seems to be on the uptick in Sioux Falls, but I don't know what that really means. Petty theft, drug related, etc? I don't get the impression that downtown is filled with muggings/murders, homeless camps, and rioters.
Sounds like housing prices have been going up about everywhere. Property taxes in SD are lower than WA, plus we have high sales tax and our governor is working around our state constitution to implement an income tax (disguised as a payroll tax). I filled up my car at $4.65 a gallon today. We're feeling about taxed out. Our incomes will undoubtedly drop if we take new positions in SD, but we should have enough equity in our house to get into something comparably nice based on what we're seeing. Still need to get out and visit and really get a feel for how it all looks.
Thanks for the info CoteauKid. I think eastern SD winters would be the biggest adjustment for us. Where we're at now, we rarely have snow more than a handful of days each year, and it's rarely cold enough to keep us inside. Are roads plowed/maintained pretty well? Trying to imagine keeping our kid inside the house for four months out of the year, hah.
The pacific NW is very passive-aggressive, so that might not be a huge change, although SD still sounds friendlier than where we're at. I like the small town vibe, and sounds like Sioux Falls proper has a lot of bigger city amenities, so might be a great fit to live a bit on the outskirts and commute in as desired. Is Brandon the main "suburb" town close by?
You mentioned the east side leans more democrat. Is it more moderate democrat or swinging toward the progressive? I don't want to get too political, but we don't want to be moving someplace that defunds their police departments, subsidizes homelessness and drug use, decriminalizes theft and assault if you're on drugs or 'disadvantaged', mandates schools teach sex education to kindergartners, etc. A couple other posts on the this forum mention that crime seems to be on the uptick in Sioux Falls, but I don't know what that really means. Petty theft, drug related, etc? I don't get the impression that downtown is filled with muggings/murders, homeless camps, and rioters.
Sounds like housing prices have been going up about everywhere. Property taxes in SD are lower than WA, plus we have high sales tax and our governor is working around our state constitution to implement an income tax (disguised as a payroll tax). I filled up my car at $4.65 a gallon today. We're feeling about taxed out. Our incomes will undoubtedly drop if we take new positions in SD, but we should have enough equity in our house to get into something comparably nice based on what we're seeing. Still need to get out and visit and really get a feel for how it all looks.
Really appreciate all the info.
Road maintenance is generally good since we expect winter. Many people take a trip somewhere warm in January or February to break things up.
Brandon, Harrisburg, and Tea are the 3 "suburbs." If I had to pick one I'd go with Brandon but none of them stand out to me as offering any advantage over living right in Sioux Falls. You might experience severe frustration or road rage with drivers here since many people drive below the speed limit and most people are unfamiliar with freeway concepts. Also the city IMO hasn't addressed long term growth properly (we had a thread on this a couple years ago).
In my opinion eastern SD residents, both left and right, are generally more moderate. The Trump stuff isn't as deep as people think. Last year people were wearing masks everywhere and it was being strongly enforced. I've talked to numerous people on the right that are disappointed with Noem for campaigning and making headlines instead of actually representing and accomplishing things for the citizens.
The downtown SF and small business crowd tend to be the "progressive" ones. There was some light rioting and looting (guns stolen but perps later caught) when the George Floyd fiasco was going on and voters also approved recreational Marijuana last year, both things which very much surprised me. Fortunately, much of the crime in Sioux Falls is centered in specific areas and for now violent random incidents are still mostly isolated. People have told me there's a large amount of crime and theft going on in the rural areas (drugs, people stealing to feed their Meth addiction, etc.)
Road maintenance is generally good since we expect winter. Many people take a trip somewhere warm in January or February to break things up.
Yeah, PNW is a clown show during snow events. Good to know we should still be able to get around during winter. A winter break to visit family would probably help break up the cold a bit too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoteauKid
Brandon, Harrisburg, and Tea are the 3 "suburbs." If I had to pick one I'd go with Brandon but none of them stand out to me as offering any advantage over living right in Sioux Falls. You might experience severe frustration or road rage with drivers here since many people drive below the speed limit and most people are unfamiliar with freeway concepts. Also the city IMO hasn't addressed long term growth properly (we had a thread on this a couple years ago).
Thanks for the info. I'll probably drive around Sioux Falls and hit Brandon when I take my trip here in a few weeks. Might see if I can find a realtor to give me an idea of where to take a look. We hit our fair share of slow drivers out here as well. Generally doesn't bother me unless I've been stuck in stop and go for an hour and then somebody is doing ten under once it clears out, hah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoteauKid
In my opinion eastern SD residents, both left and right, are generally more moderate. The Trump stuff isn't as deep as people think. Last year people were wearing masks everywhere and it was being strongly enforced. I've talked to numerous people on the right that are disappointed with Noem for campaigning and making headlines instead of actually representing and accomplishing things for the citizens.
Good to hear it's fairly moderate. I used to think the progressive left was mostly just the squeaky wheels limited to Seattle proper, but it was a real eye opener when during the protests/riots, the Bellevue, WA police force stood down and let downtown get looted. It's become a snowball rolling downhill pretty quickly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoteauKid
The downtown SF and small business crowd tend to be the "progressive" ones. There was some light rioting and looting (guns stolen but perps later caught) when the George Floyd fiasco was going on and voters also approved recreational Marijuana last year, both things which very much surprised me. Fortunately, much of the crime in Sioux Falls is centered in specific areas and for now violent random incidents are still mostly isolated. People have told me there's a large amount of crime and theft going on in the rural areas (drugs, people stealing to feed their Meth addiction, etc.)
Yeah, rural areas in WA have been hit with property crime / meth epidemic as well. Doesn't sound like SF is going to descend into Seattle/Portland situation.
Hah thanks. Mostly that question was in regards to hiking, etc.
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