The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In South Dakota For 2024


The best places to buy a house in South Dakota are Belle Fourche and Tea for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Editor’s Note: This is not investment advice, and we are not financial advisers.

Suppose real estate is the most significant investment a majority of people make in their lifetime. In that case, it’s best to understand the places in South Dakota with best potential return on investment.

After working in real estate adjacent roles for over a decade, I had the hypothesis that the best place to buy for a return on investment would be up-and-coming cities. Smaller cities where crime might be high now, but people still move to.

To test my hypothesis, we are going to look at places in South Dakota that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average, and crime rates are higher than average.

In everyday terms, these might be “deals”. The best deal in South Dakota at the moment according to Saturday Night Science? That would be Belle Fourche.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In South Dakota For 2024

  1. Belle Fourche
  2. Tea
  3. Harrisburg
  4. Sturgis
  5. Madison
  6. Box Elder
  7. Brandon
  8. Vermillion
  9. Spearfish
  10. Huron

Best Places To Buy A House In South Dakota Map

The methodology that wen’t into this can be a bit complicated, so we’ll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below.

For more South Dakota reading:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In South Dakota For 2024

Belle Fourche, SD

Source: Wikipedia User Bradleygee | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,670
Median Home Price: $281,636
Population Change: 2.0%
Home Price Change: -10.0%
More on Belle Fourche: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 5,922
Median Home Price: $354,610
Population Change: 7.0%
Home Price Change: 0.4%
More on Tea: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 7,157
Median Home Price: $340,010
Population Change: 7.7%
Home Price Change: 1.7%
More on Harrisburg: Data | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Sturgis, SD

Source: Wikipedia User Cumulus Clouds | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 7,121
Median Home Price: $338,025
Population Change: 0.5%
Home Price Change: -1.6%
More on Sturgis: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Madison, SD

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,271
Median Home Price: $235,746
Population Change: -1.8%
Home Price Change: 11.1%
More on Madison: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Box Elder, SD

Source: Wikipedia User Jeffrey Beall | CC BY 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 11,905
Median Home Price: $330,877
Population Change: 3.3%
Home Price Change: 1.8%
More on Box Elder: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Brandon, SD

Source: Wikipedia User TCN7JM | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 10,919
Median Home Price: $362,304
Population Change: 1.6%
Home Price Change: 1.2%
More on Brandon: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Vermillion, SD

Source: Wikipedia User User:Magicpiano | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 11,667
Median Home Price: $229,091
Population Change: 1.4%
Home Price Change: 4.3%
More on Vermillion: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Spearfish, SD

Source: Wikipedia User JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 12,268
Median Home Price: $418,769
Population Change: 2.0%
Home Price Change: 1.6%
More on Spearfish: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Huron, SD

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 14,179
Median Home Price: $176,399
Population Change: 0.8%
Home Price Change: -6.3%
More on Huron: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in South Dakota for 2024?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for another 9. Suffice it to say we’ve put a lot of thought into finding an excellent place to buy a home.

So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we’d approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in South Dakota. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in South Dakota with undervalued homes relative to pent-up demand using Saturday Night Science.

To do that, we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2018-2022 and compared it to the previous vintage. Specifically, we used the following criteria:

  • Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
  • Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
  • Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It’s still kinda cheap)

We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still “cheap” for South Dakota with the following caveats:

So of the 0 cities and towns in South Dakota, only 18 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 18 for the above criteria, with 1 being the best. We averaged the rankings to create a “best place to buy” index, with the place having the lowest index being the best.

Turns out that Belle Fourche is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Mount Rushmore State.

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In South Dakota for 2024

There’s our analysis of the best places to buy a house in South Dakota. And, to be clear, we aren’t necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.

In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.

The best cities to buy a house in South Dakota are Belle Fourche, Tea, Harrisburg, Sturgis, Madison, Box Elder, Brandon, Vermillion, Spearfish, and Huron.

So if we’d could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy.

For more South Dakota reading, check out:

Best Places To Buy A Home In South Dakota

Rank City Population Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
1 Belle Fourche 5,670 $281,636 2.0% -10.0%
2 Tea 5,922 $354,610 7.0% 0.4%
3 Harrisburg 7,157 $340,010 7.7% 1.7%
4 Sturgis 7,121 $338,025 0.5% -1.6%
5 Madison 6,271 $235,746 -1.8% 11.1%
6 Box Elder 11,905 $330,877 3.3% 1.8%
7 Brandon 10,919 $362,304 1.6% 1.2%
8 Vermillion 11,667 $229,091 1.4% 4.3%
9 Spearfish 12,268 $418,769 2.0% 1.6%
10 Huron 14,179 $176,399 0.8% -6.3%
11 Pierre 14,105 $272,719 -0.1% -1.3%
12 Yankton 15,421 $247,438 0.6% -1.6%
13 Mitchell 15,656 $234,575 -0.1% 4.4%
14 Watertown 22,718 $272,742 0.6% 0.3%
15 Brookings 23,530 $281,909 0.4% 2.6%
16 Aberdeen 28,388 $216,009 -0.4% 0.8%
17 Rapid City 75,632 $318,953 2.3% 2.7%
18 Sioux Falls 193,401 $311,972 2.2% 2.2%
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.