Moving here would be a Mistake
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4/2/2017
This is a review of Sioux Falls, SD from someone who moved here from Broomfield, Colorado. I have been living here for almost two years. Like most people I tried to researched places that may be a better place to live. I picked Sioux Falls.
That was a Mistake.
My review will be attacked by someone pretending to be a resident of the city. Ask yourself when you read it, what person spends its time perusing the review boards? So they can refute, attack someone who does a review they don’t like ? Who would do that ? Don’t they have life.
It is important to note that states as well as cities spend money to market their state or city, trying to entice people to come there because it adds to their tax base. Some reviews passing themselves off as residents, are in fact, marketing, city state proxies paid by the very location to sell the location. People put more stock in an individual review from the locale than an outright advertisement from the state or city. This is very big for cities, states livelihood. They spend a lot of money promoting their city or state especially in these times.
When I started meeting people after coming here and striking up conversations with them in various activities, soon they would look at me with bewilderment, shock and ask me; “Why the #$@!& would you come to Sioux Falls ?”
South Dakota is the EIGHTH WORSE STATE IN WHICH TO MAKE A LIVING according to USA Today and Money Rates for 2015, In 2016 they rocketed up to ELEVENTH WORSE STATE IN WHICH TO MAKE A LIVING…..South Dakota didn’t improve with higher wages, its’ just that other states got worse. Even with no income tax, supposedly low unemployment, and safe work environment, it is horrible for making a living. There is a lot of Poverty in Sioux Falls and it is obvious. Much of the city has high poverty with nasty areas, and rundown buildings. The city also has terrible roads with crumbling sidewalks and weeds. The freeways are outstanding though.
The low unemployment number advertised for South Dakota and Sioux Falls is a lie. People are leaving the state, city or they are not being counted. All of the states around South Dakota have a far better rating for making a living yet they have state income taxes and a lot of regulations adverse to businesses. Looking at job boards in states surrounding Sioux Falls, such as Craigslist, Indeed, and Keloland Employment. You will see a stark contrast in the number of openings and the wages they offer.
There is something seriously “off” in South Dakota.
There is a lot of homelessness, drug problems and a suicide problem in this city. It has one of the worse ratings in the country for crimes of all types. FBI has violent crime surging 45%(Assault), and property crimes not far behind.
FBI’s Most dangerous places in South Dakota. The following is the list from the top ten most dangerous: 1. Chamberlain, 2. Rapid City, 3. Sioux Falls. The crime situation in Sioux Falls has violent crime going up by a massive 45% and property crime by 5%.
This is a Liberal Left Democrat town in a Republican state. It has a propaganda arm called called the “Argus Leader”, a monopoly, tiny tabloid pretending to be a newspaper who is owned by Gannet. Gannet is the organization that believes in open borders, illegal immigration(socialism) who published the names, addresses of people who have Concealed Weapon Permits in New York. Gannet has a lot of controversy, deception, deceit in its media organization. The town also has a large college presence, for profit and public which explains the liberal bias. These colleges are much larger than necessary to service the population around the city and surrounding areas.
There are quite a few businesses that have closed their doors in Sioux Falls. Some major, quite big. The city entices seniors to come here and that has resulted in a large medical industry around the area servicing them. . In talking to seniors, many comment they wished they had rented for a year or so before buying. Be careful of people when they are driving around. The city also has a lot of refugees and they are in the very poor neighborhoods.
There is also a VA hospital. What this means is that Sioux Falls is Heavily dependent on Federal and outside monies to exist. Welfare, Food Stamps, student loans, medicaid, medicare, Social Security and outside money for their colleges. The very existence of the City depends on this. If those monies in part or all dried up, the city would collapse because it has virtually no other industry.
I have been told repeatedly there is a “good old boy” club that keeps business, manufacturing, high paying industries out of this city. The same people mentioned that their classmates have almost all left South Dakota and live in Minnesota or Colorado because they can’t find a good job in Sioux Falls, or South Dakota.
That “good old boy club” is undoubtedly the Agriculture, farming community. They have a lot of power. They make sure companies don’t come in and raise the wages, which they see as raising their costs. I have been told they will force businesses out if their wages are out of line. This is the skilled, semi-skilled workers manufacturing would want and that is why the vast majority of openings, jobs in Sioux Falls are in the $12/hr to $16/hr range. There are a lot of jobs below this wage scale too, and very, very few above the $16/hr range. Seeing $20/hr and above in Sioux Falls is very, very rare. This excludes the medical industry who don’t advertise much, and the next biggest employer, the trucking industry.
While most residents of the city struggle to find a good full time job, the city is running large deficits, yet when looking at the salaries on the city government site, you’ll see librarians making 85k, 100k, and 115k per year! That is almost 4 times the medium wage of $30,700/yr of average South Dakotan's.
MoneyRates.com, also wonders why low unemployment is not translating into higher wages. Low labor supply and high demand ought to translate into higher wages, right? Apparently something is broken in the feedback loop: in South Dakota, lower wages appear to be creating low labor supply. The cost of living for Sioux Falls is at 101.3/102.5, for the neighborhood Sioux Falls is in, but fairly average compared to the rest of the U.S.
Weather is Terrible most of the year. Very cold, snow, rain, wind, and humidity in the summer. The area will not get to 70 F degrees until the end of May ! Even then, it will rain, blow, wind, and even then temperatures will sink every couple of days. It is bad all the time and rarely clears or is warm. Plan on being inside ~ 8 months out of the year. This is not good for health or fitness. Sioux Falls ranks 50th(out of 100) in list of Best and Worse cities for Men who want to be fit and happy according to Men's Health Magazine. Weather is key here. No sun, patsy complexion, atrophy, obesity and poor moods are all apparent here. Compounding that, it is also hard to make a living. However, there is a lot less dirt, dust in the air here than in Colorado.
A major concern is Water Quality in Sioux Falls. It is some of the worse in the nation. Like all cities they are required to make their water quality numbers available to the public. The EPA audited their water quality some time ago, and their reported numbers were even worse. TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) from my calibrated meter is 388-398 ppm. 500 ppm is Maximum EPA allowable. That doesn’t count all the chemicals in the water! I use an RO.
Attributed to the “Good Old Boy Club”, farmers is the decimation of Wildlife on the East side of South Dakota. All farmers use pesticides, they think more is better, but they go a lot further from what I have been told. They kill all the wildlife. There is no prairie dogs, raccoons, coyotes, and hardly ever will you see birds or anything else. It was immediately obvious to me when I came here from Broomfield, Colorado, a city that I would drive around during the day and see wildlife everywhere.
Internet and Cable is a monopoly. Midco Communications has it. Internet costs me almost as much as my gas and electric bill combined for probably half the year.
The city is pretty compact, so getting somewhere is really quick. Only a few miles to get to the store, or where ever. However, that means your vehicle will hardly ever get warmed up, which is not good for your vehicle. The city has a Costco, which is great.
BB | Sioux Falls, SD