What salary do you need to live in Rapid City, SD?

Rent, home values and prices in Rapid City

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Rapid City, SD metro at $844 for a one-bedroom, $1,175 for a two-bedroom and $1,415 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $331 a month, and the third bedroom another $240.

Homeowners in Rapid City report a median home value of $307,700. With median household income at $75,255, a typical home costs 4.1× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Rapid City's overall prices at 89.2 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $112,158 would elsewhere.

Rapid City: the pre-tax income for each grade

For two bedrooms, $130,000 is where Rapid City turns Comfortable. Below that, $65,000 marks the start of Okay and $33,000 the start of Tight; under $33,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 11% of gross pay.

Royal, the top band, starts at $321,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 1.0× income.

Each figure is the lowest income, to the next $1,000, at which the calculator itself would show that grade for a two-bedroom in Rapid City.

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in Rapid City

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 54 and a three-bedroom 46, both Okay; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $150,000, consistent with the $130,000 line above.

Rapid City compared with every US metro

On price level Rapid City is 308th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 167th, and on median home value 142nd. Rent and overall prices don't line up exactly, with prices in the bottom quarter and rent in the middle half.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Ocala, FL ($1,175) and Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA ($1,166).

Rapid City next to South Dakota and similar metros

Compared with South Dakota as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Rapid City is 19% higher ($1,175 vs. $987) and the median home is 20% higher ($307,700 vs. $257,400).

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $108,000, so Rapid City needs $22,000 more than South Dakota overall.

South Dakota has only 2 other metros in the data, Sioux Falls, SD-MN and Sioux City, IA-NE-SD, so the closest match elsewhere, Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA, is included too.

Does the typical Rapid City income clear the bar?

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $75,255, which grades Okay (49) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Reaching Comfortable would take $54,745 more than the median household earns. Statewide, the South Dakota median household ($75,081) grades Okay on the state's own medians. Household income can include more than one earner, so a single salary of the same size goes less far.

Estimates use pre-tax income and public data; they are not financial advice.