Rapid City, SD
Rapid City, SD Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Rapid City, SD Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Rapid City ranks 78th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 133rd for income. A household earns $78,056 a year while median rent runs $1,168/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 11% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (34th of 300), while hazard safety is the soft spot (212th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 122nd and home prices 189th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Rapid City, your take-home is worth about $68,768 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 133rd of 300↑33.7%$78,056
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 44th of 30089 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $87,546
- Per-capita income
- $43,585
- Full-time pay
- $45,848
Housing
- Median rent
- 122nd of 300↑40.9%$1,168/mo
- Home value
- 189th of 300↑80.7%$361,100
- Property tax
- $3,577/yr · 1%
- Sales tax
- 6.11%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 43rd of 3003.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 137th of 30034.6%
- Avg commute
- 35th of 30020.8 min
People
- Population
- 153,470
- Population change
- +7.9%
- Median age
- 40.5 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 3.3%
- Broadband
- 91.1%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 198th of 30050
- Natural-hazard loss
- 212th of 300$16/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 34th of 30015.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.7%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Cost of living
- + Job market
- + Commute
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — rapid city rgnl ap.
What jobs pay in Rapid City
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $230,530
- IT managers
- $163,860
- Financial managers
- $160,280
- Pharmacists
- $140,340
- General & operations managers
- $130,410
- Civil engineers
- $100,300
- Lawyers
- $99,430
- Software developers
- $91,840
- Registered nurses
- $79,380
- Accountants & auditors
- $79,270
- Police officers
- $65,620
- Electricians
- $61,160
- Secondary school teachers
- $59,540
- Elementary school teachers
- $59,480
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,110
- Plumbers
- $55,850
- Web developers
- $52,600
- Carpenters
- $48,640
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $47,110
- Construction laborers
- $45,630
- Customer service reps
- $38,520
- Janitors
- $34,880
- Retail salespersons
- $33,350
- Cashiers
- $30,460
- Waiters & waitresses
- $29,020
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Rapid City metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in South Dakota are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Oregon644
- North Dakota536
- Texas445
- California430
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Rapid City
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Rapid City metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Rapid City metro?
- Median gross rent across the Rapid City, SD Metro Area is $1,168 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Rapid City.
- What is the median household income in the Rapid City metro?
- A typical household in the Rapid City, SD Metro Area earns $78,056 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Rapid City expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Rapid City, SD Metro Area runs about 11% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Rapid City metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $87,546 (versus its face value of $78,056). CityLedger rates the Rapid City, SD Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Rapid City metro?
- The median home value across the Rapid City, SD Metro Area is $361,100 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Rapid City metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Rapid City, SD Metro Area is 3.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).