The twin state to the south of its northern cousin, South Dakota is home to the famous carving, Mt. Rushmore as well as the Crazy Horse memorial and the location of General Custer's Last Stand at Custer State Park. South Dakota, like many of the plains states, is well known for its abundance of natural gems and geological sites as well as for its agriculture, particularly ranching. The state is also a famous site for ancient fossil-finding, producing many dinosaur remains now sitting in museums across the world. Farming and tourism are the two major industries for the state, with retail and manufacturing making up the remainder. For those who want to live in the country and enjoy the vast expanse land unencumbered by roads and suburbia, South Dakota makes a great destination.
With a total area of 77,000 square miles, the Mount Rushmore State is bigger than average. However, it is home to less than a million Americans and its population ranks 46th in the nation. Gross state output is also relatively small at about $40 billion annually. SD incomes, on the other hand, are about average for the US population.
As of this writing, the median SD home is worth around $150,000. Median sales prices, however, are more than $100,000 higher, coming in at around $275,000. All of South Dakota's cities are clustered closely together around this number. It is important to note that in a smaller state like SD, there's much less data and thus average values are a bit less reliable.
Population: 159,908
The Sioux Falls metro area is home to around 240,000 people, or about 25% of SD's population, and it's growing fast. In the past decade, the population has grown by almost a quarter. Many credit the arrival of Citigroup in the 1980s, which began an influx of financial services jobs. Other major employers are Wells Fargo and the Sanford Health hospital.
Population: 69,854
Rapid City is the city commonly associated with Mount Rushmore. The city's economy is largely driven by tourism; Mt. Rushmore is, after all, a major American landmark.
In the past 30 years, Sioux Falls, SD, has seen its financial services industry grow. This growth has lead to increased choices for consumers, who can now decide between a local option and using a larger, national bank. Community lenders include small banks and credit unions, which are chartered to serve a specific community and have deep roots with those towns and neighborhoods. National banks are the big names we've all heard of - places like Citi and Wells Fargo.
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Residents of South Dakota have a lot of options, but it's important to shop around before making a major financial decision. Using RateZip.com, it's possible to compare offers on auto loans, cds, and other products with the click of your mouse.
If you're considering a move to South Dakota, RateZip.com can also help, providing potential home buyers detailed regional rate comparisons for loans offered by regional banks and national players. This website is also a great place to compare refinance rates and get instant quotes.
The most popular home loan in SD is the fixed rate mortgage (FRM). With these home loans, the rate and monthly payment are constant throughout the life of the loan. These mortgages have soared in popularity in recent years as mortgage rates have hit all time lows.
On the other end of the spectrum is the adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), where the rate is variable over time. One attractive feature of the ARM is that the interest rate tends to be lower in the first few years, which are known as the initial period. After that period ends, the mortgage rate adjusts annually based on an agreed upon index.
