Living in Rapid Valley, SD
Rapid Valley is a big small town of 6,975 people in Pennington County, South Dakota. It's about 5 miles from Rapid City, SD and 311 miles from Denver, CO, the nearest major city. Summer highs average 85°F and winter highs 36°F, with about 49 inches of snow a year. The typical home is valued around $256k and rent runs about $1k a month.
6,975people
$256kTypical home
$1,174/moRent
85° / 36°Summer / winter
49"Snow
251Sunny days
99Rain/snow days
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Size & setting
- Big small town of 6,975
- Part of a metro area
- About 1,088 people per sq mi
- 311 mi to Denver, CO
- 5 mi to Rapid City, SD
- 4 mi to the nearest town of 10k+
Money
- Typical home $256k (≈$1,611/mo)
- Median rent $1,174/mo
- Median household income $83k
- Property tax about 1.0% of value
- 4.0% unemployment
Weather
- Summer highs around 85°F
- Winter highs around 36°F
- Comfortable summers (dew point 51°F)
- 251 sunny days a year (74 totally clear)
- 114 cloudy days a year
- 40 of 90 winter days are gray
- 99 days a year with rain or snow
- 49" of snow a year
- 15 days a year with 1"+ of snow
- 3 days a year over 100°F
- 38 nights a year below 10°F
- Breezy
Safety
- Above-average violent crime (706 per 100k), county-wide
- Above-average property crime (2,957 per 100k), county-wide
People
- Median age 43
- 23% of households have kids
- 19% are 65 or older
- 21% have a college degree
- Mixed community
- 3% of residents are college students
Getting around & homes
- Average commute 22 min
- 2% walk or take transit to work
- 4 mi to RAP airport
- 301 mi to DEN (major hub)
- 266 mi to the nearest Amtrak station
- 83% single-family homes
- Typical home built around 1988
- 95% of homes have broadband
Outdoors
- Gently rolling terrain
- Elevation 3,196 ft
- 951 mi to the ocean
- 104 mi to a big lake
- 22 mi to the nearest trailhead
- 20 mi to the nearest ski area
- 4 mi to the nearest campground
- 8 golf courses within 25 mi
Things to do
- 99 sit-down restaurants within 25 mi
- 23 bars within 25 mi
- 42 coffee shops within 25 mi
- 2 music venues & clubs within 25 mi
- 13 museums within 25 mi
- 4 breweries & distilleries within 25 mi
- 4 mi to the nearest farmers market
Everyday
- Schools in the bottom 29% of South Dakota districts (reading)
- 2 mi to the nearest grocery store
- 5 mi to the nearest ER hospital
- 48 mi to a 4–5★ hospital
- 3 mi to the nearest vet
- 2 mi to the nearest dog park
- 8 congregations per 10k people
- 4 mi to the nearest college
Politics
- Pennington County: R+26 in 2024
- South Dakota: R+29 in 2024
Natural hazards
- Very low hurricane risk
- Low tornado risk
- Moderate wildfire risk
- Very low earthquake risk
- Very low flood risk
- Moderate drought risk
- High winter storm risk
- Very low heat wave risk
- Very low volcano risk