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(I posted this same thread elsewhere but I was wanting another opinion, is South Dakota for me?)
Alright so as the title says, I am 21 years old and I have a fiance and we are both looking to move. Right now we live in Wyoming. I love the small town feel but I want to broaden my horizons. So I am going to list things that are very important to me and my fiance in hopes that you guy's can help me decide on a place to move...thanks in advance for this!
(These are not going to be in order.)
1. We are nature lovers. We want lot's of green trees but we'd also like four seasons. We love the rain. We like mountains, trees, lots of open land. I personally like snow but she doesn't she is sick of it, lol. We also love rain.
2. We are young so money is a very big issue. We need to move somewhere with lots of opportunities and low cost of living...hard to find these days. We have very little money...around (8,000$) but we will probably save up for a little while longer before moving.
3. I am slightly on the conservative side. I guess I would consider myself more of a libertarian but I don't delve too deep into politics. The only thing that really does worry me is the loss of the second amendment..(guns rights). So I would like to live somewhere with decent gun laws. But at the same time I would like to live around more accepting people that also like nature.
4. We would like to live where the population is semi low. Not too many people but a place where there is a decent amount of conveniences like food places, movie theatre, block busters, ect We would like to live within twenty minutes or so away from these conveniences.
5. Crime rate...we would like to move to a decent place without a lot of crime.
6. I would prefer to move into a small town rather than a city. Maybe a small town near a larger city.
If you need more information then please ask questions.
The places that we are considering...(in order)...
1. Washington (Port Angelos)
2. Tennessee (Gatlinburg)
3. Idaho (Unsure)
4. Oregon (Unsure)
5. South Dakota (Unsure)
Sounds like you'd want to research the Black Hills area. Lots of smaller towns around Rapid City, nature, the hills, more nature and attractions to do with nature (caves, etc).. Decent weather, more decent in the winter than the eastern side of the state by a longshot. Lower crime. Depending on your career, there can be alot of opportunity within the area. Low crime.
Here's a general map of the area, towns The Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming Area Map
There are tons of links regarding the Black Hills area if you google them..
Thanks, guy's. Very helpful and informative.
I'll do some research in a few, I am going to take a nap.
Rough night, I've been up all night doing research on various places. lol.
1) Hill City
2) Custer
3) Lead
4) Deadwood
5) BelleForche
6) Edgemont
7) Hot Springs
I would not recommend
Pringle
Hermosa
New Underwood
Danny says to add Caputa
I agree, that the Black Hills area sounds pretty close to what you're looking for. If your girlfriend hates snow, you need to live CLOSE to the hills, but not in them. If you move to Lead/Deadwood, she will leave you.
My top choice, and the town I would live in if I moved there, is Belle Fourche. Just big enough to have most all the conveniences, and if you can't find it there, Spearfish is just down the highway. It's on the edge of the hills and just barely out of the tourist overflow.
You might also check out Newell. Smaller community that's also out of the tourist mess and just outside of the Black Hills.
Hot Springs would be my other pick. It's a little touristy, but is also just outside of the hills and is a decent size town. I could soak in Evan's Plunge on a daily basis.
Living on the edges of Rapid City itself wouldn't be bad either. They get lot's of snow, but unlike the eastern part of the state it periodically melts during the winter.
Don't worry about people in these towns (especially Newell) being anti-gun. Quite the opposite.
Definitely stay away from New Underwood. Kind of trashy with the AFB too close by.
Elk I'd take issue with Hermosa. I guess I'd also ask what kind of work? Honestly to make money look at Sioux Falls. Maybe take a peek at Gillette. Granted things are not as rocking n' rolling as they were two years ago something to ponder the mines pay well and have excellent benefits. I've been tempted to move there more than once.
(I posted this same thread elsewhere but I was wanting another opinion, is South Dakota for me?)
Alright so as the title says, I am 21 years old and I have a fiance and we are both looking to move. Right now we live in Wyoming. I love the small town feel but I want to broaden my horizons. So I am going to list things that are very important to me and my fiance in hopes that you guy's can help me decide on a place to move...thanks in advance for this!
(These are not going to be in order.)
1. We are nature lovers. We want lot's of green trees but we'd also like four seasons. We love the rain. We like mountains, trees, lots of open land. I personally like snow but she doesn't she is sick of it, lol. We also love rain.
2. We are young so money is a very big issue. We need to move somewhere with lots of opportunities and low cost of living...hard to find these days. We have very little money...around (8,000$) but we will probably save up for a little while longer before moving.
3. I am slightly on the conservative side. I guess I would consider myself more of a libertarian but I don't delve too deep into politics. The only thing that really does worry me is the loss of the second amendment..(guns rights). So I would like to live somewhere with decent gun laws. But at the same time I would like to live around more accepting people that also like nature.
4. We would like to live where the population is semi low. Not too many people but a place where there is a decent amount of conveniences like food places, movie theatre, block busters, ect We would like to live within twenty minutes or so away from these conveniences.
5. Crime rate...we would like to move to a decent place without a lot of crime.
6. I would prefer to move into a small town rather than a city. Maybe a small town near a larger city.
If you need more information then please ask questions.
The places that we are considering...(in order)...
1. Washington (Port Angelos)
2. Tennessee (Gatlinburg)
3. Idaho (Unsure)
4. Oregon (Unsure)
5. South Dakota (Unsure)
Do you have any ideas on the area of Idaho or South Dakota? I was born and raised in Rapid City, South Dakota. I am now in Boise, Idaho for college. If those areas interest you I may be able to provide some insight on those two.
I'll have to apologize, I didn't really read your post too carefully as I see you are unsure about both Idaho and SD
Boise, or Les Bois, (french for "the woods") is nicknamed the city of trees. It also has 4 seasons, but it rarely snows in the actual town. The mountains, about 16 miles from downtown Boise, still have a bit of snow left from the winter. This is probably my favorite part of the town. You don't have to deal with snow in town, but you can ski in pretty good conditions about 30 minutes away.
Idaho is very conservative, and they love their guns. Boise is as liberal as the state comes, and it's still pretty conservative.
Crime rate is low.
Boise is about 200,000 people, but there are a bunch of smaller towns located in the Treasure Valley, Nampa, Meridian, Caldwell, to name a few...
I have to go take a test (finals week) but i'll post more on Boise and SD eventually
rapid city has 70ish thousand people. There are about 5 towns you can live in that are within 25 minutes from the actual city. Not to big, but still big enough to have every thing you need.
South Dakota is quite a bit different from rest of these choices.. if you like it green, you will need to stay in the eastern part of the state. However the winters are, dare I say it, brutal. It's below zero all the time, it will even get below zero in March, something I was not used to coming from Wisconsin. The west is hilly and pretty, with warmer winters, but it will still get cold. It's (on average) much drier in the west but the last few years, they have had abnormally high precip in many areas.
I'm just a blue collar working stiff myself so it's hard for me to just start over somewhere else and make the money I make now at 3M. Maybe 3-4 years ago, but the unemployment rate has skyrocketed everywhere in basically all over the United States EXCEPT around here... you should be able to come to Sioux Falls or Brookings and find work pretty quick. Brookings is a college town, and has lots of college students.
Overall, unless you really are hurting to find a job, I would avoid south dakota, and visit the other ones on your list first, they are all very good choices, just not to get a job, that's all... but you can say that about everywhere, absolutely everywhere, these days. If you need work with no specialized skills however, South Dakota IS the place for you.. eastern half... Sioux Falls area, if you want more to do. South of Sioux Falls will treat you warmer then up by Brookings. The difference in temperature, particularly in the fall and spring months, can be pretty large.
A couple more you could put on your list.. Southern Missouri. Plenty of precip, nice and green, lots of trees. Don't know much about it, but it's on my list since springfield, MO has a 3M plant there.
Central Wisconsin ....the driftless area is very pretty and hilly, and they have North America's largest waterpark in the Wisconsin Dells The Madison area is very culturally developed and a nice area to live in. Madison is a very well known college town. Plus, the winters are much warmer then anywhere in South Dakota, particularly eastern SD. More precip, more snow, greener overall. Plenty of hills and rock formations, nice people, good roads, decent schools. Really nice if you like to have "all 4 seasons" because the winters, in my opinion, are pretty close to perfect, though people who are used to living further south would say they last too long. The brutal, below zero stuff is much less common in southern wisconsin.. more typical temps are those of the 20's and 30's for highs.... compared to single digits and teens in eastern SD. Cooler summers in wisconsin compared to SD, especially western SD where it can get very hot. The difference is not huge though compared to eastern SD. Wisconsin has lots of great things to do which aren't that far a driving distance away.. door county, lake michigan, the dells, kettle moraine... and for the nightlife.. madison, Milwaukee (summerfest, concerts) and even Chicago, La Crosse, and Minneapolis are not that far away, and all by interstate.
The difference between Washington, Idaho, and Oregon really isn't much.. you could pretty much drive between the states so I'll lump them together as one and say that I've always wanted to hit up the pacific northwest. Never having been there, I can't comment though. I hear a lot of the "older souls" live in this part of the country. However, the lack of sunshine in some of the cities would drive me mad. South Dakota does have much higher levels of sunshine, but then so does Wisconsin, Missouri, and Tennessee.
here's a large hardiness zone map for you. If you want it warmer, all your choices except south dakota are good ones The map doesn't tell the whole story though. It's not just how cold it gets that matters, it's how often it gets that cold... and in eastern SD, there simply is no letup in the cold. In brookings, snow that falls in November won't melt until march, the temperature simply never gets above freezing, something I wasn't used to coming from WI where snow would fall, then melt, because it would be in the 40's a few days later. Warm air and moisture from the gulf of mexico is the reason for this. In defense of Western SD, temps do warm up due to winds blowing down from higher elevations. This effect is particularly evident in places like Scottsbluff, NE, which can get in the 60's during the winter.. this effect is known as chinook winds. However, I'd imagine this effect can wreak havok with certain plant species brought out of dormancy by temps that warm, only to be damaged when the next cold blast hits.
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The Madison area is very culturally developed and a nice area to live in. Madison is a very well known college town. Plus, the winters are much warmer then anywhere in South Dakota, particularly eastern SD. More precip, more snow, greener overall. Plenty of hills and rock formations, nice people, good roads, decent schools. Really nice if you like to have "all 4 seasons" because the winters, in my opinion, are pretty close to perfect, though people who are used to living further south would say they last too long. The brutal, below zero stuff is much less common in southern wisconsin.. more typical temps are those of the 20's and 30's for highs.... compared to single digits and teens in eastern SD. Cooler summers in wisconsin compared to SD, especially western SD where it can get very hot. The difference is not huge though compared to eastern SD. Wisconsin has lots of great things to do which aren't that far a driving distance away.. door county, lake michigan, the dells, kettle moraine... and for the nightlife.. madison, Milwaukee (summerfest, concerts) and even Chicago, La Crosse, and Minneapolis are not that far away, and all by interstate. 
